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I send you herewith a copy of the Report of the 

VALLEY FORGE REVOLUTIONARY ENCAMPMENT COMMISSION 

of the 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY 

For the Reference Depeutment of your 4hP* Library. 

Kindly acknowledge receipt to. 

Yours respectfully, 

JOHN HENRY FORT, 
Camden, New Jersey. President. 



REPORT 



OF THE 



^ju^, Valley Forge 
Revolutionary Encampment 
Commission 



OF THE 



State of New Jersey 



^7^>// 






COMMISSIONERS 

JOHN HENRY FORT, President 

A. J. DEMAREST. Treasurer JAMES L. PENNYP ACKER. Secretary 

GEN. J. MADISON DRAKE DAVID R. MULFORD 



SiNNicKsoN Chew & Sons Company, Printers 

37 AND 39 NORTH THIRD STREET 

CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY 

I916 



c 






D. of D. 
FEB r 1917 



K 



I 



A DESCRIPTION OF VALLEY FORGE ENCAMPMENT 

There is no spot connected with the Revolutionary history of our coun- 
try more sacred than that of Valley Forge. Every patriotic American has 
read of it, and yet for nearly a century after the famous encampment of Val- 
ley Forge was abandoned by Washington's army it received but little public 
consideration. The rain and snow which fell upon the historical fortifica- 
tions, and the grass and trees, slowly effaced the redoubts and other earth- 
works thrown up for protection. Briars and wild flowers sprang up in wild 
profusion and for many years these sacred spots were almost inaccessible. 
The patriotic people residing in and around Valley Forge, w^hich takes its 
name from an old forge located on the Valle\^ Creek nearly a mile from the 
present village, but which was destroyed by fire during the Revolutionary 
War, have kept alive the traditions and guarded the Camp grounds from 
desecration and destruction. The encampment is at the confluence of the 
Valley Creek and Schuylkill ; the former flows down one side of the old Camp 
ground from Chester County into the Schuylkill on the other. Washing- 
ton's headquarters was an old stone mansion, originally known as the old 
Potts farm house. 

The Reading Railroad which runs along the Schuylkill side of the en- 
campment has recently erected a handsome $io,000 depot just across the road 
from Washington's headquarters. Valley Forge is about twenty-one miles 
from Philadelphia and is now easily accessible either by the Pennsylvania 
Railroad ; the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad ; by trolley from Phoenixville, 
five miles distant; or by trolley from Sixty-ninth and Market streets, Phila- 
delphia, to Norristown. 

The Camp is picturesquely situated and is comprised of rolling wooded 
hills, deep ravines and precipitous bluffs along Valley Creek and the Schuyl- 
kill. In Revolutionary times it was a sparsely settled farming community 
and was accessible only by rough roads and Indian trails. Being surrounded 
on two sides by water and bluffs, and by woods on the others, it was a natural 
fortification and w^as recommended to Washington after the battle of Bran- 
dy^vine by Col. Lutterloh. The original Encampment was about two miles 
in length, extending to Port Kennedy on the Schuylkill and stretching in a 
semicircle across the Gulph Road. The entrance to the Encampment w^as 
along a ravine and its entrance was fortified by parks of artillen^, two lines 
of earthworks, forts and redoubts commanding the entire Encampment. 
While the Encampment comprised a few thousand acres of land, several out- 
posts and picket lines extended several miles from the real Encampment. 
The army arrived there December 19, 1777, and before huts could be erected 

5 



the soldiers suffered terribly from cold in their tents, especially as they were 
scantily supplied with blankets and clothing. Huts 14 x 16 feet in dimen- 
sion were erected for the use of the soldiers, and the various old farm houses 
were used as headquarters for the Brigade and Division Commanders. Sick- 
ness and disease invaded the Camp, and out of an army of 8,000 men nearly 
3,500, it is estimated, died during the six months of encampment. The deaths 
were so frequent and the firing of the military salute at the funerals being 
so depressing to the soldiers, Washington ordered it discontinued and three 
rolls of the drum substituted in its place. It was here that General Von 
Steuben instructed the undrilled army and brought it up to a state of high 
proficiency and it was recruited up to about 14,000 men which thereafter 
were invincible. 

The Encampment has been restored to its old Revolutionary condition 
and the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsylvania has placed protec- 
tions around old historic spots and made them accessible by drives and trans- 
formed the Encampment into a beautiful park. Washington's Headquarters, 
the artificers' camp and the various headquarters are all in good condition 
and easy of access. Fort Washington, Fort Huntington, the Star redoubt, 
the lines of earthworks, the old Letitia Penn school-house, the old bake-ovens, 
and the unknown soldiers' graves have all been sacredly taken care of. An 
observatory has been erected at Mount Joy that affords a view of the entire 
Encampment, and log huts have been erected in fac simile of the old huts and 
hospital used by the Revolutionary Army. 

Some years ago some patriotic ladies rented Washington's Headquarters 
with a view to creating an interest in the old camp ground, but proving to 
be a financial burden they were assisted by the Patriotic Sons of America, and 
through their efforts the State of Pennsylvania made an appropriation for the 
purchase of the headquarters and a part of the old Encampment. The Act 
of Assembly created a Commission known as the Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission and from time to time additional land has been acquired and the prin- 
cipal portion of the old Valley Forge Camp has been placed in the original 
condition of the Revolutionary period without destroying or altering any of 
its features. 

Valley Forge is one of the most sacred spots known in the Revolutionary 
history of our country, and while the army was small there were 14,000 troops 
finally encamped there, being recruited from twelve of the original thirteen 
colonies. Most of the generals of Revolutionary fame were quartered at 
Valley Forge, among whom were Major Generals Nathaniel Greene, Alex- 
ander McDougall, Baron de Kalb, Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Mifflin, 
Lord Stirling, Charles Lee, Baron Von Steuben and John Sullivan ; and 
among the Brigadier Generals who commanded various troops were Thomas 
Conway, of Pennsylvania; John Glover, of Massachusetts; Jediah Hunting- 
ton, of Connecticut; Henry Knox, of Pennsylvania; Ebenezer Learned, of 

6 




Washington's Redoubt, built Winter of Mil -IZ. 
















A View of Huntington Redoubt as it appears to-day. 

7 



New Hampshire; William Maxwell, of New Jersey; Lackland Mcintosh, 
of Georgia and North Carolina; John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, of Penn- 
sylvania; John Patterson, of Connecticut and Massachusetts; Enoch Poor, 
of New York; Charles Scott, of Virginia; Anthony Wayne, of Pennsyl- 
vania; George Weeden, of Virginia; James M. Varnum, of Rhode 
Island; Count Pulaski and Louis Lebeque Duportail. Besides these were 
men who afterwards became eminent in the history of our country, 
such as Alexander Hamilton, Colonel Trumbel, Timothy Pickering, 
afterwards a Cabinet officer; George Clinton, afterwards Vice President; 
Henry Dearborn, afterw^ards Secretary of War; Thomas Hiester, afterwards 
Governor of Pennsylvania; Richard Peters, afterwards Judge of the United^ 
States Court; John Marshall, then a private in the ranks, afterwards Chief 
Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and James Monroe, afterwards 
President of the United States, and others. 

While the Valley Forge Encampment marks an interesting era in the 
historj' of our country, it was so fraught with hardships and sorrow that even 
Washington, after the close of the Revolutionary War, when visiting Penn- 
sylvania, did not visit Valley Forge, as its memories were so sad that he did 
not care to revive them. There are about 3,500 unknown graves there oc- 
cupied by soldiers who died of smallpox and enteric fevers, and owing to the 
frozen condition of the ground were buried only a few inches below the soil, 
and sometimes were covered more with snow than with earth. Only one 
grave has been identified, that of Colonel Waterman, and in fact when some 
of the little mounds have been opened to establish them as graves only a limy 
trace remained to identify them as the last resting places of those who gave 
their lives for their country. 

The Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsylvania has brought the 
old Camp ground up to a beautiful condition and, while preserving all of the 
Revolutionary features, made it a park that is not only the Shrine of Amer- 
ican patriotism but also a place of recreation as well as a Revolutionary his- 
torical resort. Beautiful drives and walks place every feature of the old En- 
campment within easy access of the visitor, and the Commission maintains a 
Park Guard who guide the visitors and protect all objects of interest from 
desecration. Picnic grounds have been established and suitable camping facili- 
ties, and thousands of school children, accompanied by their teachers, fre- 
quently visit there, and nearly 300,000 people annually visit this historic spot. 

While the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsjdvania has placed 
granite markers upon the sites occupied by the various colonial State troops 
located there, only five States, namely, Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, 
New Jersey and Delaware so far have erected monuments in commemora- 
tion of their Revolutionary soldiers encamped there. The Commission limits 
the cost of any monument to $5,000, and the intention is not to make it a 
park with grand monuments, but in keeping with the spirit of the time and 

S 




A View of the Inner Line, Where it Crosses the Gulph Road, Showing the 

Artillery en park. 




Graves of unknown Revolutionary Soldiers, who were buried during Winter 

of 1777-78. 



purely along Continental lines; therefore, no names may be placed upon any 
monument excepting those who participated in the Revolutionary War. 

The New Jersey monument is erected upon the hill occupied by Max- 
well's Brigade, and the bronze soldier facing the Schu}4kill looks out over 
the expanse towards the State of New Jersey from which he and his com- 
panions in arms came. 

The whole Encampment has a park-like appearance; the grass is kept 
cut like a lawn, the groves are kept clear of briars, while wild flowers grow 
in profusion, and growths of laurel dot the hills and roadsides, and hundreds 
of birds warble and sing their anthems in the groves to the Nation's Shrine 
in Summer, while the soughing of the trees and the howling Winter winds 
render a requiem to the unknown dead. 




10 



REPORT OF THE VALLEY FORGE REVOLUTIONARY 

ENCAMPMENT COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF 

NEW JERSEY 

The Valle}' Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission respectfully 
submits the following report: 

This Commission was appointed by the Honorable Woodrow Wilson, 
then Governor of the State of New Jersey, under an Act of the Legislature, 
approved 191 2. The following is a copy of the Act referred to. The Act 
was prepared by John Henry Fort, of Camden, and introduced in the Assem- 
bly by Honorable Albert DeUnger: 

Assembly No. 46. 

State of New Jersey, 

Introduced January 15, 191 2, 

By Mr. DeUnger. 

Referred to Committee on Claims and Revolutionary Pensions. 

An Act creating the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission 
and defining its powers and duties. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of Neiu 
Jersey : 

1. The Governor of this State is hereby authorized to appoint five per- 
sons, residents of this State, who shall constitute, and are hereby appointed. 
a board of commissioners by the name and style of the "Valley Forge Revolu- 
tionary Encampment Commission." The term of such commissioners shall 
be for five years, and no member of such commission shall receive any com- 
pensation for his services, and in case of death or vacancy, the Governor shall 
have the authority to fill such vacancy. Three of such commissioners shall 
constitute a quorum at any stated or specially called meeting. 

2. This commission shall elect a president, secretary and treasurer from 
their number, and said commissioners shall have power and authority to 
arrange with the State of Pennsylvania for the use and occupation of the 
lands occupied by the New Jersey troops at Valley Forge Encampment, West 
Chester and Montgomery counties, during the years of one thousand seven 
hundred and seventj'-seven and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, 
and have the same suitably marked with granite posts and a granite shaft bear- 
ing the inscription of the names of the troops, and the commanding officer 
or officers, and such other inscription as shall be suitable to commemorate the 
memory of the New Jersey troops quartered there during the Revolutionary 
War. 

3. The said commission is hereby authorized to expend the sum of five 
thousand dollars for the erection of a granite shaft and markers. 

11 



And the said commission is hereb}^ authorized to enter into negotiations 
with the State of Pennsjdvania, or the Valley Forge Encampment Park Com- 
missioners, for the erection of said markers and granite shaft, and to advertise 
for proposals for marking the site occupied by the New Jersey troops during 
the years one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven and one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy-eight, and for all such other matters that are in- 
cident thereto, not exceeding the appropriation herein made for the same. 

4. This act shall take effect immediately. 



It seems passing strange that from June i8th, 1778, until January 
15th, 19 1 2, no effort had been made to secure the passage of an Act for 
the erection of a monument to mark the site occupied by the First New Jer- 
sey Brigade Infantry Line, composing a part of Washington's Army at Val- 
ley Forge. This Brigade, generally known as Maxwell's Brigade, was one 
of the most famous bodies of troops in the Revolutionary Army, and the con- 
ception of the idea of the erection of the New Jersey Monument at Valley 
Forge was largely through the efforts of a patriotic organization whose 
members, by personal sacrifices and at considerable expense, not only helped to 
secure the passage of the Act creating the Valley Forge Revolutionary En- 
campment Commission, but greatly lessened the expense to the State in the 
ceremonies of the corner-stone laying, as well as greatly assisting the Com- 
mission on several occasions with the free use of their automobiles and highly 
appreciated services at the dedicatory ceremonies, for which the Commission 
wishes to return its thanks. Camden Lodge, No. 293, Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks, deserves great credit for the assistance given the Com- 
mission, and Mr. Frank T. Albright also for exploiting the project in the 
press of the entire State of New Jersey. The following letter, issued by 
Camden Lodge, gives an account of the whole matter. After the passage of 
the Act and the appropriation of $5,000, Governor Wilson appointed the 
Commission : 

CAMDEN LODGE, No. 293, 

BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS 

Of the United States of America. 

Camden, N. J., December 12, 1912. 
Dear Sirs and Bros.: 

At a meeting of Camden Lodge of Elks held on W'ednesday evening, December 6, 
191 1, Bro. John Henry Fort, who spoke at the Memorial Service of Norristown Lodge 
of Elks, gave a glowing description of a visit to Valley Forge, near Norristown, Mont- 
gomery and Chester counties, Pennsylvania. 

Bro. Fort described in detail the present condition of the old Revolutionary En- 
campment and stated that the State of Pennsylvania had purchased the old historic 
site, and under a Commission was having it restored to its original condition, which 
was rendered feasible by reason of a map recently discovered in a museum, in Holland, 
by a French engineer for Gen. Washington, that showed ever)' detail of defence, loca- 
tion of troops and General Washington's Headquarters, as well as those of the other 

12 



generals. The camping grounds have been beautified by fine roads and paths and the 
redoubts, forts and earthworks uncovered and even fac simile huts erected to cover 
every detail and cannon of the Revolutionary t3pe placed in the park, as designated 
on the old map now in possession of Cornell University. 

Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and other States of the original thirteen Col- 
onies who had troops there have erected, or are about to erect, granite markers to 
commemorate the location. Pennsylvania has erected at great cost a granite equestrian 
statue of Major General Anthony Wayne and magnificent granite columns surmounted 
with bronze eagles. The Valley Forge Park, as restored, is one of great beauty, and 
with the beautiful Schuylkill and Valley Forge Creek flowing around the sloping hill- 
sides of Valley Forge makes it one of picturesqueness and loveliness. Hill after hill 
rises and falls in the distance, and here were quartered in 1777 and 1778 the 8,000 
young soldiers of noble sires from the thirteen old Colonies who battled for freedom. 
Thirt)-five hundred of them died here and are buried in the Valley Forge Park with 
unmarked graves. And yet, with all these discouragements, Washington here recruited 
and drilled his army, by aid of Baron von Steuben, to a high efficiency and to a 
strength of 14,000 invincible men. 

There were a number of troops there from New Jersey and some were buried in those 
unmarked graves. It was from near here Washington marched to Trenton and van- 
quished the Hessians; marking the roads and snow-covered fields with the blood from the 
feet of his shoeless soldiers. As the site occupied by the troops from New Jersey, then 
one of the Colonies, has never been marked, Bro. Fort moved that a committee of three 
from Camden Lodge of Elks be appointed to solicit, by letter, the aid of every Elks' 
Lodge in New Jersey, requesting the Senator and Representatives from the county in 
which the Lodge is situated to vote for the enactment of a law providing for the 
appointment of a Commission by the Legislature to obtain all data necessary to 
locate the site and obtain permission to erect a granite marker and suitable stones 
to commemorate the memory of the officers and men who heroically represented 
New Jersey in the great sufferings and heroic acts performed by them at Valley Forge. 
The idea is also to have the act carry with it an appropriation of not less than $5,000 
to cover the expense of the marker and other small granite posts needed to fix the 
boundary. 

As Valley Forge is the Mecca of American Independence, hallowed in the memory 
especially of those residing in the thirteen original States, may we ask your co-opera- 
tion in this work and have j-our secretary, under the seal of the Lodge, write your 
Senator and Representatives, urging their support of this project? 

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is patriotic as well as benevolent. 
As Jerseymen let us honor the memory of those who gave us our Flag and Nation by 
erecting a shaft on the site where they made such noble sacrifices. 

Fraternally j^ours, 

John Henry Fort, 

President of Committee. 

The Commissioners appointed bj^ Governor Wilson were: 

John Henry Fort, of Camden, designated bj- the Governor as chairman. 
A. J. Demarest, of Hoboken. 
David R. Mulford, of Bridgeton. 
James L. Penn3'packer, of Haddonfield. 
General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth. 

13 



Upon receipt of notification of his appointment as Commissioner and as 
having been designated by the Governor as chairman, John Henry Fort called 
a meeting of the Commission, by letter, in the parlor of the Home of Cam- 
den Lodge, No. 293, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, v^^hich had 
previously placed the Home at the service of the Commission: 

Camden, May 29, 1912. 
My Dear Sir: 

Having been designated by Governor Wilson as Chairman of the Valley Forge 
Revolutionary Monument Commission, — but which more properly under the Act is 
designated as President, — I hereby notify you that a meeting of the Commission will 
be held in Camden at the Elks' Building, Broadway and Federal street, on Tuesday 
forenoon, June 12th, 1912, at n o'clock. As the Lodges of New Jersey of the Order of 
Elks were strong supporters of this bill as a patriotic organization, they have asked 
the honor of having the first meeting held at the Camden Home, and will entertain 
us with lunch after we have finished our business. The Lodge has appointed a com- 
mittee who will look after us and after lunch convey us in automobiles to Valley 
Forge where we will meet a delegation of the Pennsylvania Valley Forge Park Commis- 
sion, who will formally give us permission to locate the monument upon the site occupied 
by the New Jersey Brigade under General Maxwell there in 1777-1778. 

As the Patriotic Order Sons of America and kindred orders have largely been in- 
strumental in the creation of Valley Forge Park, you can understand why they are 
so interested in this matter. 

In order to avoid dragging the Commission needlessly here several times, as I pre- 
sume you are all business men, and as the Act provides no expense account, I have 
made all necessary inquiries from the Pennsylvania Commissioners and arranged de- 
tails that are necessary and formal. I enclose you clipping from Camden Post-Tele- 
gram which explains the matter. I find a strong sentiment hereabouts in favor of 
a big demonstration when the monument is dedicated, but could only say we had no 
money under the Act to do it and was told the several organizations of a patriotic Order 
would arrange for a parade without expense to the Commission. I promised to bring 
the matter to the attention of our Commission and mention it now so you can think 
over the matter before we meet. I presume at our first meeting we can do little beyond 
authorizing proposals for designs and plans and specifications for the monument. 

If it is to be dedicated this Fall immediate action should be taken. I have had 
one offer submitted to me, and I presume there will be several. 

Kindly answer and inform of your being present on the date arranged. 

I am most respectfully yours, 

John Henry Fort. 

The Commission met on June 12th, 1912, agreeably to said notice, and 
was called to order by the designated chairman. The Act of Assembly creat- 
ing the Commission providing that it should elect its own officers, the Com- 
mission accordingly elected the following officers for the term of its exist- 
ence: 

President — John Henry Fort, of Camden. 
Secretary — James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield. 
Treasurer — A. J. Demarest, of Hoboken. 

14 



The officers elected dul_v accepted the positions. The president of the 
Commission then formally extended an invitation to the Commissioners to 
dine with a committee of the Camden Lodge of Elks in the Home (which 
was previously appointed to entertain them). He also informed them that 
after lunch the committee would escort them to Valley Forge in automobiles 
as the guests of the committee on behalf of the Lodge. Having finished all 
business, the president informed the Commissioners that he had, from his 
nearness to Valley Forge and to avoid unnecessary expense to the State for 
traveling expenses of the Commission, visited the Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission of Pennsylvania to obtain full information as to what must be done 
before steps could be taken for the erection of the monument to the New 
Jersey troops quartered there during the winter of the years 1 777-1 778. The 
president explained in detail that the old camping grounds were now owned 
by the State of Pennsylvania and had been restored to their ancient state as 
far as possible without destroying the historical and military features. He 
also stated that the State of ALnine, then a part of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts, had erected a granite shaft brought from Maine upon the site 
occupied by its troops, and the State of ]\Lassachusetts had recently erected 
a granite Exhedra upon the site occupied by its troops, and that the State of 
Pennsylvania had previously erected granite columns at the entrance to the 
position of the grounds occupied by its troops, the columns being surmounted 
by magnificent bronze eagles, and also had erected a magnificent full-sized 
equestrian statue to Maj. Gen. Anthony Wayne. He further explained that 
the State of Pennsylvania had created a Commission which had entire charge 
of the Valley Forge Encampment, and had purchased some five hundred acres 
of the old Valley Forge Encampment, and had restored the forts, redoubts, 
roads, earthworks and all military features of the old Camp as well as at places 
erecting log huts in fac simile of the original ones used by the Continental 
Army at Valley Forge. 

He stated also that the Commission had restored Washington's head- 
quarters and marked the sites by small granite shafts with suitable inscriptions 
on bronze tablets to locate the position occupied by each body of troops en- 
camped there, and had laid out a beautiful concourse or boluevard for the 
use of vehicles and pedestrians. In order to erect a monument or other struc- 
ture to commemorate the site occupied by any troops President Fort explained 
it was necessary to obtain the consent of the Valley Forge Encampment Com- 
mission, created under an Act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and submit 
all plans for their approval. On application the Commission would select a 
site as near as possible to either Regimental or Brigade headquarters. 

President Fort explained that he had, on invitation of the Valley Forge 
Park Commission of Pennsylvania, visited it in company with President Wil- 
liam H. Sayen, Dr. John H. Jordan, secretary, and Mr. W. A. Patton, who 
kindly took him with them on one of their official trips, and with the assist- 

15 



ance of Colonel S. S. Hartranft, superintendent of the Valley Forge Park, 
escorted him to the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade during the time 
the old Encampment was occupied by the Continental Army, 1777-1778, and 
he was accorded the honor of selecting the site for the New Jersey Monu- 
ment which is as near Brigade headquarters as it is possible to ascertain. By 
means of an old camp map, drafted by Maj. Gen. Duportail, chief of Wash- 
ington's staff, and discovered by ex-Governor Pennypacker in a museum in 
Antwerp, and now in possession of Cornell University, the various sites have 
been correctly marked and further verified by contemporaneous maps in the 
Commission's possession. 




Reproduction of a Hospital Hut, built upon the Original Site Occupied 

1777-78. 



The Commission then adjourned to the call of the president, and after 
dinner, as the guests of the Camden Lodge of Elks, accompanied by thirty 
members in nine automobiles furnished by members of the Lodge, proceeded 
to Valley Forge, about twentj'-one miles from Philadelphia. Upon arriving 
at Valley Forge, a trip was made through every part of it, and the Commis- 
sioners and visitors alighted at Washington's headquarters, where they were 
met by Col. Hartranft and Mr. J. P. Hale Jenkins on behalf of the Val- 
ley Forge Park Commission of Pennsylvania, who escorted them to the site 
selected for the erection of the New Jersey Monument. It was then ex- 
plained that the cost of the monument was limitd to not more than five thou- 
sand dollars for each State, and that this ruling must be observed. A chest- 

16 



nut stake had been driven to mark the site and the Commission unanimously 
accepted it. 

The Commission, at its first meeting, authorized the president and the 
secretary to draw up advertisements for proposals and publish them four times 
in the following papers: The State Gazette, Trenton; Daily Observer, Ho- 
boken ; Evening News, Newark ; Post-Telegram and Courier, Camden. 

PROPOSAL FOR GRANITE MONUMENT, 

To be erected at Valley Forge Park, Montgomery County, Pa 

Proposals are invited for the erection of a granite shaft and markers to 
be located at Valley Forge Park, Montgomery County, Pa., by the Valley 
Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, under the laws of New Jer- 
sey, to mark the site occupied bv the New Jersey troops quartered there, 1777- 
1778. 

All information will be furnished and bidders are to submit designs from 
suggestions of Commission, price not to exceed $5,000. 

Quality of granite and weight of each block or shaft is to be given and 
dimensions of each and height of monument. Bids to include foundation, 
bronze tablet or tablets and coat-of-arms of State, etc., and erection ready for 
unveiling. Five blue prints drawn to scale must be furnished for Commis- 
sioners to study ten days before filing of bids. 

All persons desiring to bid, applying before July I, 191 2, will be fur- 
nished with letter containing more specific details. 

The Commission reserves the right to reject any or all bids. Bids must 
be in by August i, 191 2, and the Commission will meet at the State House, 
Trenton, N. J., at 1 1 A. M., to open and examine them. 

A certified check for $200 must accompany each bid. 

For further information address and submit proposals to 

John H. Fort, 
President Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, 
311 Market Street, Camden, N. J. 

Attest: — James L. Pexnyp acker, 

Secretary Commission. 

In response to these advertisements a number of proposals were received. 
The Commission at the time designated met at the oflfice of the Adjutant 
General, in the State House, in the city of Trenton, where the bids were 
opened. Every bidder was given an opportunity to come before the Com- 
mission and fully explain details and specifications and submit models, blue 
prints or drawings of the proposed monument. The Commission notified the 
bidders that it reserved the right to examine the plans and specifications and 
announce the result at a later day. All the bidders had been given previously 
a copy of a tentatively adopted design for the monument and figure and noti- 
fied that the plans submitted must be changed from a granite statue to bronze, 
of the United States Government standard. All the plans for the monu- 
ment were afterwards submitted to the Valley Forge Park Commission of 

17 



Pennsylvania, which selected the plans of the O. J. Hammell Co., Pleasant- 
ville, N. J., as acceptable providing that the figure of the soldier as well as 
the inscription tablets should be changed to bronze instead of granite. This 
change, with the elaborate granite monument submitted by that company, 
added several thousand dollars to the expense, but by reducing the ornamenta- 
iton the company was able to of^er the Commission a more substantial monu- 
ment than the first design, which being acceptable to the Valley Forge Park 
Commissioners of Pennsjdvania, was duly approved, and at a meeting of the 
Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of New Jersey, held 
at Trenton, in the Adjutant General's office, was accepted and the contract 
awarded to the O. J. Hammell Co. for the sum of five thousand dollars, the 
amount appropriated by the State of New Jersey and fixed as the maximum 
and minimum cost of any monument to be erected by any State at Valley 
Forge Park. Assistant Attorney General Gaskill very kindly drew the con- 
tract, which was afterwards executed and filed in the office of the State Comp- 
troller, after being approved by Governor Woodrow Wilson. 

Camden Lodge of Elks, having so generously entertained the Commis- 
sion at dinner and allowed the use of its Home for meeting purposes of the 
Commission and assuming the expense of providing automobiles to convey the 
Commission to Valley Forge, General J. Madison Drake submitted a resolu- 
tion that Camden Lodge of Elks be invited and accorded the honor of laying 
the corner-stone of the monument on Tuesday, the twelfth day of November, 
19 1 2, and that the President of the Commission, as a member of the Lodge, 
be authorized to extend the invitation and make all arrangements for the lay- 
ing of the corner-stone. 

Camden Lodge of Elks accordingly issued the following letter of invita- 
tion to the thirty-five Lodges in the State of New Jersey and nearby Lodges 

of other States: 

CAMDEN LODGE, No. 293, B. P. O. E. 

Camden, N. J., October 22, 1912. 
Exalted Ruler and Bros.: 

On Tuesday, November 12th, Camden Lodge, by invitation of the New Jersey 
Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, appointed under an Act of the 
Legislature to erect a monument at Valley Forge upon the site occupied by the New 
Jersey Brigade, under General William Maxwell, 1777-1778, will lay the corner-stone. 
This honor is conferred upon our Lodge because it assumed the initiative in supporting 
Bro. John H. Fort in his efforts to get the Legislature to pass an Act and an appropria- 
tion for a monument to mark the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade at that grand 
old historic encampment ground. 

The Grand Exalted Ruler has granted a dispensation to Camden Lodge, under the 
seal of the Grand Lodge, and a committee has been appointed for the purpose of ar- 
ranging details for a special train via the Reading Railroad (Philadelphia Terminal), 
for November 12th, 12.30 o'clock, returning about 5.20 from Valley Forge. 

There will be at least two hundred members from Camden Lodge, many accompanied 
by their ladies and friends. A brass band will enliven the occasion. The corner-stone 
ceremonies will be entertaining and all the exercises under charge of the Elks. 

IS 



As this monument was largely obtained through the assistance of the Order of 
Elks in New Jersey, it is eminently proper that it should be represented at the corner- 
stone laying, and we ask you to have your Lodge represented by either a delegation 
or \our Exalted Ruler, that the public may see that the Order of Elks not only professes 
to be patriotic but is indeed so. The round-trip ticket from Philadelphia is $i.oo, 
and to secure a special train two hundred responses from members are required. 

Kindly advise us if your Lodge will be represented and by about how man\'. Let 
the Order of Elks show its appreciation of the honor. 

Fraternally yours, 

John Henry Fort, 
Attest: Chairman of Committee. 

A. J. MiLLiETTE, Secretary. 

Camden Lodge of Elks ha\ing accepted the invitation to lay the corner- 
stone, the contractor, under instructions of the Commission, immediately pro- 
ceeded to lay the foundation. The foundation is of concrete and was laid 
under the personal supervision of the Valley Forge Park Commission Supei- 
intendent, according to the Commission's standing rule. 

On November I2th, igi2, everything being in readiness, the members 
of Camden Lodge of Elks, accompanied by a number of ladies, friends and 
members of other Lodges, proceeded to Valley Forge in a special train at 
the expense of the Lodge members, for the purpose of laying the corner-stone. 
The Order of Elks is a patriotic as well as a benevolent organization, and a 
special dispensation was granted by the Grand Exalted Ruler of the Grand 
Lodge of the United States of America, and a Special Ritual was prepared 
for the occasion by John Henry Fort, Past District Deputy Grand Exalted 
Ruler of New Jersey. 

The Grand Exalted Ruler previously granted the following dispensation : 

Superior, Wis., October i6, 1912. 

To the Officers and Members of Camden Lodge, No. 2Q3, B. P. 0. Elks: 

In accordance with request of Brother E. Wilmer Collins, Secretary, under date of 
October 12, Camden Lodge, No. 293, is hereb}' granted a special dispensation to take 
part in the laying of the corner-stone of the monument to be erected at Valley Forge, 
Pennsylvania, to mark the site occupied by New Jersey soldiers camped there during 
the Revolutionary War. This dispensation is granted under Section 121 of the Grand 
Lodge Statutes. 

Fraternally, 
(Seal Grand Lodge.) Thomas B. Mills, 

Grand Exalted Ruler. 

The services were performed in the presence of the Valley Forge Revo- 
lutionary Encampment Commission of New Jersey and a representation from 
the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsylvania. Senator William T. 
Read, of Camden County, and Senator Isaac T. Nichols, of Cumberland 
County, who advocated the passage of the bill in the Senate, were present as 
guests of the Lodge, and after the ceremonies made appropriate addresses. 

19 



The officers of the Camden Lodge of Elks, after an invocation bj^' Reverend 
Holmes F. Gravatt, took their positions and laid the corner-stone, the Elks 
Quartette rendering appropriate songs. 

RITUAL FOR LAYING CORNER-STONE OF NEW JERSEY MONUMENT 
AT VALLEY FORGE, PA. 

Exalted Ruler: Brother Esquire, you will form the Lodge by placing an officer 
at each corner of the proposed monument; the Inner Guard and Tyler near the 
Esteemed Leading Knight; the Secretary and Treasurer at my right and left. 

Esquire: Exalted Ruler, your orders have been obeyed and each officer is at his 
respective station. 

(Members in half circle behind Exalted Ruler.) 

Exalted Ruler: My Brothers, the Lodge is now open for the laying of this cor- 
ner-stone, but before proceeding with so sacred a service, it is proper that we invoke a 
Divine blessing upon our work. 

(Minister offers Invocation.) 

Exalted Ruler: My Brothers, we are assembled here to-day to perform one of 
the most memorable events in the history of our Lodge, as well as in the history of 
New Jersey. We have been called upon by the Commission appointed by the Gover- 
nor of New Jersey, in accordance with the provisions of a law of that State, to have 
erected upon this sacred spot, a monument to mark the site occupied by the New Jersey 
Brigade of the Continental Army, which was encamped here during the Revolutionary 
War in the winter of 1777-1778. 

It was here Washington, Lafayette, Wayne, Von Steuben and the men who fought 
for our liberty before the United States was formed assembled; it was from near here 
Washington began his march to Trenton that resulted in the defeat of the Hessians; it 
was here, amid these hills and valleys, his army took refuge after defeats and discourage- 
ments ; and here, starving and dying, many of his young soldiers, in devotion to him 
and the cause of liberty, gave up their lives. Here he came 'mid howling storms of win- 
ter and in these hills they camped, and in log huts and tents faced not only cold and 
privations, but sickness and starvation ; and here, out of 8,000 who followed him, lie 
3,500 in scattering and unmarked graves. Many of these were Jerseymen, and the 
New Jersey Brigade had nearly 2,000 of its 5,008 men encamped here. So, my Brothers, 
it is grandly fitting that a monument should be erected upon this sacred site where they 
suffered, and where the immortal feet of Washington, Lafayette, Gen. Maxwell and 
other heroes have trodden. 

May this corner-stone and monument forever endure as a marker for this hallowed 
spot, and to indicate to our children's children and all their remotest posterity the price 
paid by these men for the liberty they enjoy. 

(The stone is set by the workmen.) 

(Music.) 

(Esquire hands the Exalted Ruler a trowel, bottle of water and one of red wine.) 

Exalted Ruler: My Brothers, there will be four bases for this monument, and 
symbolically they represent the four cardinal principles of our Order, Charity, Justice, 
Brotherly Love and Fidelity; so may we as Elks together with all Americans act with 
Charity to all mankind, with the realization that Justice should regulate not only our 

20 



individual lives but all of our American institutions; and may we forever regard with 
Brotherly Love those nations and peoples who helped us in our early struggles for 
freedom, and thus, with Charity and Justice, combined with Brotherly Love, strive with 
all Fidelity to build up our Nation and our patriotic Order so that the cause of human- 
ity may be enhanced, and our growing power used only for good and to help free all 
mankind and bring them together in one common brotherhood. 

This water, from its purity, I sprinkle upon this stone in commemoration of the 
pure and undying love we bear our ancestors who suffered here in our behalf. This 
wine, typical of the blood shed by the early patriots, I sprinkle in commemoration of 
the sacrifices made by them in their struggle for freedom; and with this trowel I 
spread the cement of Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity, hoping it may bind 
our nation closer together in one Great Brotherhood. 

My Brothers, as you know, the Order of Elks is patriotic, the flag of our country 
adorning our altar; therefore I deposit in this corner-stone the flag of our Nation, so 
that if ever in the future centuries this stone shall be disturbed, it may inform those 
then living that we were patriots as well as Elks. 

(To the Architect.) 

Worthy Sir: Having thus laid the foundation-stone of this structure, I now de- 
liver to your hands, as Architect, these implements of your profession, intrusting you 
with the superintendence and direction of the work, having full confidence in jour 
skill and capacity to conduct and complete the same. 

(Music.) 

(Tribute to the Flag.) 

Exalted Ruler: As this cement binds these stones together, so let us all during 
our lives stand together for our Nation's good, and may the Divine cement of Brotherly 
Love unite us, one and all, as living stones in the foundation of the great monumental 
temple above, the house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. 

May the all-bounteous author of Nature bless all those in charge of this work 
with an abundance of the necessaries, conveniences and comforts of life; prosper the 
erection and completion of this monument ; protect the workmen against every acci- 
dent; long preserve this structure from decay, and grant to all of us a proper appre- 
ciation of our cardinal virtues, Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity. Amen. 

Exalted Ruler: Brother Esteemed Leading Knight, have we in Charity per- 
formed our duty here? 

(Response) : We have. 

Exalted Ruler: Brother Esteemed Loyal Knight, have we in Justice performed 
our duty here? 

(Response) : We have. 

Exalted Ruler: Brother Esteemed Lecturing Knight, have we performed our 
duty here in the spirit of Brotherly Love? 

(Response) : We have. 

Exalted Ruler: Officers and Brothers, what say you? 

(All) : Exalted Ruler, we have. 

Exalted Ruler: Then, my Brothers, by virtue of the authority in me vested by 
the Grand Exalted Ruler, I declare this corner-stone duly laid for the erection of the 

21 



monument thereon, according to the principles of the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks, and may it endure in the memories of our people forever. 

(Music.) 

(Band.) 

(Taps.) 

(All sing "Star Spangled Banner.") 

At the conclusion of the laying of the corner-stone a copper box was 
inserted in it which contained a full report of the proceedings and copies of 
the various Philadelphia and Camden daily papers, badges of visiting Elk 
Lodges, a copy of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Grand Lodge and 
By-Laws of Camden Lodge, with a roster of its members and all the data that 
might enlighten future generations if the corner-stone is ever opened. The 
copper box was hermetically sealed. It was donated by Martin J. Frand, 
of Camden. 



The contract for the monument, after being duly executed by the Com- 
mission and contractor, was approved of by Governor Woodrow Wilson, as 
well as the specifications which provide that the monument be made of Barre, 
Vermont, granite, and weigh in itsi entirety 106,000 pounds. The figure to 
be of bronze. United States Government standard, 90 per cent, copper, as 
well as the tablet and coat-of-arms of the State of New Jersey. The coat-of- 
arms to be taken from an impression of the original seal of the State of New 
Jersey in the office of the Secretary of State, at Trenton. The monument 
to be ten feet eight inches at the base and consist of four blocks of granite 
symbolical of the four regiments of the New Jersey Brigade quartered there 
from December 18, i777, to June 18, 1778, and to be surmounted by a die 
on which rests a shaft and on this a pedestal surmounted by an eight-foot 
bronze figure of a Continental soldier uniformed and equipped after the style 
of West's painting of soldiers in Washington's Army crossing the Delaware. 
The uniform purposely showing wear and rents from service and the hat 
and shoes as well. The figure being wrapped in a tattered blanket, well-worn, 
fluttering in the wind and the scarf around the neck also. The soldier clasp- 
ing a flint-lock musket to his breast, the design showing him as on picket duty. 

The monument was faithfully produced from the design and is a mag- 
nificent specimen of the sculptor's art. The bronze work is of a high grade 
and was executed by the John Williams Co. Inc., of New York, M^hich does 
most of the work of that kind for the United States Government. The model 
for the figure was made in Quincy Adams, Massachusetts, by the celebrated 
sculptor, John Horrigan. 

The monument was made in Barre, Vermont. The Commission spared 
no effort to obtain every detail as to quality and design and was disposed to 
use stone from New Jersey, but after careful inquiry found that our State 

22 




23 



had no true granite of a character suitable for this structure. The figure, as 
stated, was first moulded in clay at Quincy Adams, Massachusetts, and at 
the invitation of the contractor President Fort, under instruction of the Com- 
mission, went on there and inspected it and made several changes in the de- 
tails of the figure and dress, enhancing the idea of a well-worn uniform, tat- 
tered blanket and battered hat, without giving the soldier the appearance of 
being ragged. 

The monument has a large bronze tablet on the front, bearing in large 
block letters the inscription: 

"Erected By The State of New Jersey Upon The Site Occupied 
By The New Jersey Brigade Infantry Line, Continental Army. 
Brigadier General, WILLIAM MAXWELL. 
First Regiment, COL. MATHIAS OGDEN. 
Second Regiment, COL. ISRAEL SHREVE. 
Third Regiment, COL. ELIAS DAYTON. 
Fourth Regiment, COL. EPHRAIM MARTIN. 
December 19, 1777— June 18, 1778." 

A cartouch also contains a bronze cut of the original coat-of-arms of New 
Jersey above the tablet. 




A copy of the Original New Jersey Coat-of-Arms. 



The eighteenth day of June, 19 13, was set for the dedication of the 
monument, as on that date, in 1778, General Washington received informa- 
tion that Lord Howe had evacuated Philadelphia and immediately hastened 
the New Jersey Brigade, under Brig. Gen. William Maxwell, and Morgan's 
Regiment of Riflemen — who was also a Jersej^man — in hot haste after Lord 
Clinton in his retreat across the Jerseys to South Amboy, while he got the 
rest of the army in readiness to follow the next day. 

Considerable detail work was necessary before the erection and dedica- 
tion of the monument. It was necessary to obtain written permission from 
the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsylvania, both as to the site selected 
for the erection of the monument and also for designs, inscriptions on tablets 
and rules and regulations governing the park, as well as for the erection of 

24 







x^*^^ 


1 1 



i^^ if 


7 

K 





a grand stand and for the location of the battery of artillery for firing a salute 
on the day of dedication, which written permission is herewith filed, together 
with the correspondence: 

CamdeNj N. J., June 13, 1912. 

Hon. John JV. Jordan, Secretary Valley Forge Park Com., Philadelphia, Pa. 

My Dear Sir: The Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of New 
Jersey, consisting of John H. Fort, of Camden (president) ; James L. Pennypacker, 
of Haddonfield (secretary) ; A. J. Demarest, of Hoboken (treasurer) ; David P. Mul- 
ford, of Bridgeton, and Gen. J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, met yesterday in Camden 
at the Home of Camden Lodge of Elks, by invitation, and after organization and com- 
pletion of routine business incident to the occasion, visited Valley Forge and were 
officially shown the site designated by your Commission upon which is to be erected the 
monument and markers of the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade of Stirling's 
Division during the years 1777-1778. 

Mr. Samuel S. Hartranft and Mr. J. P. Hale Jenkins kindly met us and pointed 
out the site marked by a stake, and the New Jersey Commission is highly delighted 
with your selection. Under the Act creating our New Jersey Valley Forge Revolu- 
tionary Encampment Commission, we are authorized to arrange with the State of Penn- 
sylvania or the Valley Forge Park Commission for the use and occupation of the lands 
occupied by the New Jersey troops at Valley Forge at that time, and I was instructed 
to ask your Commission for a letter officially giving us the authority to proceed. 

It is our desire to advertise at once for proposals for design and bids for the 
erection of the monument as the funds are available. We must make a detailed report 
of our transactions and will want a letter to show we have received official permission 
to erect the monument. 

In your letter will you also give us the conditions upon which the monument 
is to be erected, such as cost, material, whether any expense will attach to maintenance 
of the grounds we occupy, etc. ? 

We understand our design must be approved by your Commission, and ask con- 
firmation of this. 

The New Jersey Commission feels that the dedication of this monument should 
be made an eventful day, and would ask permission to occupy a suitable portion of 
these grounds that day for a grand stand and possibly a tent in which to entertain 
State officials and invited guests, and permission if we can arrange it for locating a 
battery front or somewhere to fire suitable salutes and of marching from the depot 
to the monument in parade form or otherwise. Of course, the Commission will see that 
nothing is of a character that will offend the proprieties of the occasion. 

As we wish to proceed in the matter, a prompt answer will greatly oblige the 
New Jersey Commission. 

I have the honor to be respectfully yours, 

John Henry Fort, 
President, New Jersey Valley Forge Revolutionary Monument Commission. 

VALLEY FORGE PARK COMMISSION. 

Office, 1414 South Penn Square, Philadelphia, Pa. 

(Coat-of-Arms.) 

Created by Act, May 30, 1893. 
Commissioners, 
W. H. Sayen, President, 1414 South Penn Square, Philadelphia, Pa. 
J. P. Nicholson, Vice President, Philadelphia, Pa. 

26 



John W. Jordan, Secretary and Treasurer. 

J. P. Hale Jenkins, Norristown, Pa. 

M. G. Brumbaugh, Philadelphia, Pa. 

W. A. Patton, Radnor, Pa. 

Richmond L. Jones, Reading, Pa. 

John T. Windrim, Devon, Pa. 

Samuel W. Pennypacker, Schwenksville, Pa. 

T. E. Wiedersheim, St. Davids, Pa. 

Philadelphia, July 19th, 1912. 

John H. Fort, Esq., President, Valley Forge Revol. Encampt. Commission of the State 

of Neiv Jersey. 

Dear Sir: I beg to inform you that our Commission has approved the site selected 
for the erection of a monument on a part of the ground occupied by the New Jersey 
Brigade, while encamped at Valley Forge. 

The following are the regulations of the Valley Forge Park Commission with regard 
to memorials: 

(i) All designs for monuments must first be submitted to the Commission for ap- 
proval. 

(2) It is hereby made the fixed policy of the Valley Forge Park Commission, and 
it is ordered, that no statement or fact shall be inscribed upon any stone, tablet, or 
memorial, and placed or erected within the limits of the Camp ground until after 
written or printed citations of the authorities upon which it is based have been filed 
with the Commission and approved by them. 

(3) No stone, tablet or permanent memorial to be placed or erected within the 
limits of the Camp ground shall contain the names of those interested in its location 
or erection, or the names of any other persons, than those existing during the period 
of the War of the Revolution. It was the opinion of the Commission that the figure 
of a Continental soldier, which is proposed to surmount the shaft, be cast in bronze 
and not cut in granite. The bronze figure is more attractive and durable, and the 
cost approximately the same. 

Permission will be given to your Commission to erect a grand stand and a tent 
in which to entertain your State oflicials and Invited guests, and also the location for 
a battery of artillery to fire a salute, on the day of dedication. 

It will give us pleasure to facilitate the work of your Commission In Its laudable 
and patriotic work. 

By order of the Valley Forge Park Commission. 

W. H. Sayen, 

President. 
John W. Jordan, Secretary. 



In the original appropriation onlj' $5,000 was allowed for building the 
monument and markers, so the Commission merged the markers into the 
monument, designing a block for each Regiment, and all four blocks sur- 
mounted by a shaft forming a monument to the Brigade. The site was care- 
fully selected and is near the Letitia Aubrey old stone school-house, which was 
used by the New Jersey Brigade as a hospital. The Brigade was for a time 
the life-guard of Washington, whose Markee was pitched near the site of the 
monument for several weeks before he accepted the old stone mansion near 
the present depot, at the confluence of Valley Creek and the Schuylkill. At 

27 



that time the men were quartered in log huts and the remains of some of the 
old bake-ovens are near by. The monument is at the top of the hill, and the 
site was chosen from maps and old records locating "Maxwell Brigade on the 
Hill." The monument faces that part of the inner drive or concourse known 
as Maj. Gen. Lafayette Avenue. This avenue was built by the Penn- 
sylvania Commission since the State acquired some five hundred of the thou- 
sand or more acres occupied by the Continental Army, and should not be con- 
fused with the roads marked on the maps as Camp Road and Gulph Road. 
The New Jersey Brigade was encamped between the two, near where they 
come together. The Gulph Road is about three hundred yards in front of 




The old School House, built by Letitia Aubrey, 1705. Used by the New 
Jersey Brigade for some time as a Hospital. 



the monument. The camp ground of the Brigade is also near the inner 
breastworks. The Brigade when it left Valley Forge was accredited with 
having eighteen hundred and thirtj^-two men on the muster roll. It was In- 
fantry Line, and enlisted under the laws of the State of New Jersey. It 
consisted of four regiments and was from different parts of the State, then 
consisting of thirteen counties instead of twentj^-one, as now. Its commander, 
Brigadier General Maxwell, was of Irish birth, coming to America with his 
father when only a boy and soon entered the military, becoming a Colonel 
of one of the regiments and afterwards being appointed as Brigadier General 
of the First New Jersey Brigade, consisting of the First, Second, Third and 

28 



Fourth Regiments. The Brigade did splendid service and was in every bat- 
tle of consequence with Washington from Brandywine and Monmouth to 
the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. It was entirely a Jersey Brigade, 
both as to men and officers, and was classed as one of the finest in the service. 

There were a number of Jerseymen in other commands at Valley Forge, 
some with "Light Horse Harry", General Lee, and some in the Artillery 
service with General Knox, and some with the New York troops, but not 
assigned as Jerseymen. There is no possible way of ascertaining how many 
Jerseymen died at Valley Forge and where they are buried. Of the thirt^-- 
five hundred who died of the first army of eight thousand there, only one 
grave was marked, that of Colonel Waterman, of New England. There 
was no fighting done at Valley Forge, it being selected for winter quarters, 
and while there were skirmishes on the out-posts and fighting in defending 
provisions stored in nearby towns, the Camp at or near Valley Forge was 
never the scene of any engagement. The deaths there were from smallpox 
and enteric disejises incident to the lack of food and clothing. Even two hun- 
dred horses starved to death, and the men in many instances were almost 
naked in a winter of unusual severity in that bleak and exposed place. In 
fact, a terrible blizzard struck the army before it had time to prepare huts to 
live in, and the high winds drove the smoke into the huts, so that many were 
affected with eye trouble as well. 

In designing the monument frequent trips had to be made to Valley 
Forge and various historical data examined to make the figure and inscrip- 
tion on the tablet and coat-of-arms exact and historically correct, and loca- 
tion had to be taken into consideration for height and contour of monument, 
every detail having to be verified, necessitating thirteen different visits to Val- 
ley Forge. 

The Commission, having no money to arrange for the corner-stone lay- 
ing or dedication of the monument, carefully went into the details of the 
expense. Camden Lodge of Elks assumed the entire expense of the corner- 
stone, laying, paying nearly three hundred dollars for a special train, besides 
all other attendant expenses. It was found that the expenses of the dedica- 
tion involved the transportation of troops, a band, a battery of two guns for 
firing a salute, erection of grand-stand, automobiles, printing of invitations 
and programs, decorations and other incidental expenses involving an estimated 
expense of about two thousand dollars. The Legislature of New Jersey 
was again appealed to for an appropriation of twentj-five hundred dollars, 
which was approved by the Senate but never passed the House, but in the 
closing hours of the session eighteen hundred dollars was included in the an- 
nual appropriation of the Committee en Appropriations which w^as passed 
and approved by the Governor. From this amount was erected a grand- 
stand seating one thousand people, decorations for it and draping the monu- 
ment for unveiling, four companies of Infantry of the Third Regiment, a 

29 



two-gunned Battery from Camden with thirty-six horses and. twenty-one 
men, Bossell's Third Regiment Band with forty pieces, five thousand invita- 
tions, envelopes and stamps, five thousand programs, expenses of Commission, 
transportation of Battery and horses by special train, subsistence of men, and 
hire of five large automobiles and five twenty-passenger sight-seeing cars to 
convey the Governor, Staff, Commission and visitors from the depot to the 
monument and return, over a mile apart. Arrangements were also made 
with the Reading Railroad in advance for a special train for conveyance of 
the military, guests and the general public at a uniform rate of transporta- 
tion from Philadelphia to Valley Forge and return of seventy-five cents. 
Five thousand invitations were mailed to attend the dedication to United 
States Senators and Congressmen of New Jersey, to the State Senators and 
Assemblymen, also the Judges of the Supreme, Circuit and County Courts 
of the State; to every State, county and city official, the entire clergy of the 
State, members of the Bar, physicians, all the patriotic organizations, as well 
as the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of New Jersey; Sons of 
Veterans, and special guests. Itemized bills were filed with the State Comp- 
troller, verified with affidavits, and the entire expense was sixteen hundred 
and fifty dollars, leaving a balance of one hundred and fifty dollars, which 
lapsed back into the State Treasury. 

The Commission delegated the President, John Henry Fort, and the 
Treasurer, A. J. Demarest, to visit Washington to invite the President of 
the United States, Honorable Woodrow Wilson, to be present at the dedi- 
cation and deliver an address. He informed them that he would certainly 
be glad to be present and asked that a formal letter of invitation be sent him. 
He was forced to decline, as his letter herein published shows, but very 
graciously designated his daughter, then Miss Eleanor Wilson, to unveil the 
monument. An invitation was also extended to Acting Governor James F. 
Fielder, who accepted: 

VALLEY FORGE REVOLUTIONARY ENCAMPMENT COMMISSION 
OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY. 

Camden, N. J., April 17th, 1913. 
Hon. Woodronx) Wilson, President of the United States of America, IVashington, D. C. 
My Dear Sir: The Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of the 
State of New Jersey extends to you a most cordial invitation to be present and deliver 
an address at the unveiling and dedication of the monument which is to mark the site 
occupied by the New Jersey troops of the Continental Army at Valley Forge during 
the winter of 1777-1778. 

The dedicatory exercises are to be held at Valley Forge on Wednesday, June i8th, 
1913, at two o'clock in the afternoon. A special train will leave the Reading Railroad 
Station, Philadelphia, at about one o'clock. 

The Commissioners are not unmindful of the fact of the many demands made upon 
your valuable time, but inasmuch as this is a New Jersey affair with which you have 
been so intimately associated from its very conception, we beg leave to submit the fol- 
lowing for vour consideration: 

30 




31 



The bill creating the Valley Forge Commission was signed by you as Governor 
of the State of New Jersey. 

The Commission which has worked so zealously to erect a monument which will 
be a credit to the State was appointed by you. 

And now that the work of the Commission will be ended on that day, the people 
of the great State of New Jersey are looking to you, as President of the United States, 
to set your seal of approval on the work of your Commission by your presence on that 
occasion, and thus join with your neighbors in paying tribute to its honored dead. 

It is the wish of the Commission that one of your daughters unveil the monument 
on this day; and we trust that one of the young ladies will find it possible to honor 
us by being present for this purpose. 

I take the liberty of enclosing herewith a copy of order of the dedicatory exercises. 

Respectfully yours, 

Jno. H. Fort, 

President. 
A. J. Demarest. 



The White House. 

Washington, April 34, 191 3. 
My Dear Mr. Fort: 

I do not know any invitation that it has been harder for me to decline than your 
kind invitation to be present at the unveiling and dedication of the monument which 
is to mark the site occupied by the New Jersey troops of the Continental Army at 
Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778 ; but I foresee only too clearly that it would 
be folly for me to promise to go. I am denying myself a great pleasure, but it seems 
a clear duty to do so. 

I do not know how my daughters will feel about your kindness in suggesting that 
one of them should unveil the monument. I shall be pleased to put the matter before 
them. Cordially and sincerely yours, 

WooDROw Wilson. 

Mr. John H. Fort, Camden, New Jersey. 



On June i8th, 191 3, the President of the Commission, John Henry 
Fort, Treasurer A. J. Demarest and Mrs. James L. Pennypacker, wife of the 
Secretary of the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, met 
Miss Eleanor Wilson and Miss Hagner, private secretary to the President's 
wife, at the West Philadelphia station and, with the exception of Mr. Fort, 
accompanied her to Valley Forge in the private limousine of Mr, William 
C. Davis, who kindly extended this courtesy to the Commission as a member 
of Camden Lodge of Elks. 

At I P. M. a special train left the Reading Terminal, Philadelphia, for 
Valley Forge, and arrived safely at the new ten thousand dollar depot, located 
opposite Washington's Headquarters. The train was in two sections, one 
carrying the Governor, Staff and troops, and the other the civilians. The 
troops upon detraining were formed in line and Acting Governor Fielder, 
his Staff, the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, guests 
and visitors formed in procession and marched or rode to the monument. 
The monument was draped with an American Flag and the grand stand with 

32 




The Monument Erected by the State of New Jersey at Valley Forge June 18th, 

1913, to the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army, 

on the site it occupied there December 19th, 1777, 

to June 18th, 1778. 



Colonial colors and Colonial flags. The Battery, which had arrived upon 
a special train in the morning, was placed in position near the monument, and 
as the Governor and suite arrived, iired a salute of thirteen guns in his honor. 

A printed program of buff and blue, Continental colors, had been 
arranged giving the details of the ceremonies, a picture of the monument, 
Acting Governor Fielder, Miss Eleanor Wilson and the Commission. After 
arriving at the monument the troops were formed into a three-sided hollow 
square around the monument, and in the presence of about three thousand 
people the ceremonies were begun. 

It was one of the most interesting crowds of spectators ever assembled 
at Valley Forge. In the crowd were men and women from every county in 
the State, and many of them were descendants of those who one hundred and 
thirty-five years ago were soldiers in the four regiments constituting the 
First New Jersey Brigade encamped upon the spot which the monument was 
to commemorate. There were representatives of the Grand Army of the 
Republic who had fought in Mexico and in the late Civil War, Sons and 
Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, Sons of the 
Revolution, and persons from every rank of life in the State of New 
Jersey. It is doubtful if any event of this kind ever received more publicity 
by invitations sent out and press notices before and after the dedication than 
the dedication of the New Jersey monument at Valley Forge. Full detailed 
accounts of the dedicatory services were published in the Philadelphia and 
Camden papers and those of nearby towns, as well as the Associated Press 
dispatches, many of them being illustrated with sketches. The moving-pic- 
ture artists were present, and the whole ceremonies were exhibited several 
days afterwards in the theatres all over the United States. 



(Invitation.) 

The Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of the 

State of New Jersey 

Requests the Honor of Your Presence at Valley Forge, 

Wednesday Afternoon, June Eighteenth, at Two O'clock, 

At the Ceremony of the 

Unveiling and Dedication of the Monument 

Erected Upon the Site 

Occupied by the New Jersey Brigade Infantry Line, 

Continental Army, 

During the Winter of 1 777-1 778. 



Members of the Commission. 

John H. Fort, Camden ; James L. Pennypacker, Hnddonfield ; 

A. J. Demarest, Hoboken ; Gen. J. Madison Drake, Elizabeth; 

David P. Mulford, Bridgeton. 



Trains Will Leave the Reading Terminal Station, Philadelphia, 
At One O'clock and Return at Five O'Clock. 

34 




35 



PROGRAM. 

(First Page.) 

Part First^ Formation of Parade. 

Assembling at Washington's Headquarters and March to Monument. 

Third Regiment Band. 

Battalion of Third Regiment, National Guard N. J. 

Division Naval Reserves, N. J. 

Valley Forge Park Commission. 

Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission. 

Governors James F. Fielder and John K. Tener.* 

*Not present; represented by ex-Governor Pennypacker. 

Orator and Guests. 

United States Senators and Congressmen. 

State Officials, Civic Organizations and Citizens. 

(Second Page.) 

Part Second^ Dedication Ceremonies. 

Salute to the Governor by Battery B, N. G. of N. J. 

Invocation, Rev. Otis A. Glazebrook, D. D., Elizabeth, N. J.* 

*Not present ; invocation delivered by Rev. James W. Riddle. 

Music by Third Regiment Band, Joseph Bossle, Sr., Chief Musician. 

Doxolog}^ by Band and Audience. 

Presentation of Monument to the Governor of New Jersey by John Henry 

Fort, President Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment 

Commission. 

Unveiling of Monument by Miss Margaret Wilson. 

Salute to Original States, 13 Guns. 

Music, "Hail New Jersey," Dr. Schaaf. 

Acceptance of the Monument by the Governor of New Jersey and 

Presentation to the Governor of Pennsylvania. 
Acceptance of the Monument by the Governor of Pennsylvania and 

Formal Delivery to the Valley Forge Park Commission. 

Acceptance of Monument by Hon. William H. Sayen, President of 

the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsjdvania. 

Music, "Spirit of '76." 

Oration, Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, President Rutgers College. 

Music, "Songs of the Nation." 

Voluntary by Band, "A Tribute to Friends and Foe." 

Benediction. 

Conclusion. 

Farewell Salute of One Gun. 

"Star Spangled Banner." 

Taps. 



After firing the salute to the Governor, John Henry Fort, President of 
the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of New Jersey, 
addressing the audience, said: "We are present to-day under the provision 

36 




37 



of an Act of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey to unveil a monu- 
ment erected upon the site occupied by and to be dedicated to the First New 
Jersey Brigade, but before proceeding upon such an important event it is 
proper that we should invoke the blessing of a Divine Providence," and in- 
troduced Rev. James W. Riddle, A. M., of Valley Forge, who offered an in- 
vocation. This was followed by the singing of the "Doxology" by the au- 
dience and the choir of St. Paul's P. E. Church, of Camden, accompanied by 
the band. After this John Henry Fort, President of the Commission, form- 
ally presented the monument to the Governor of New Jersey in an appro- 
priate speech, given in the newspaper accounts. 

At the conclusion of his speech Mr. Fort introduced Miss Wilson, stat- 
ing that while the program showed that Miss. Margaret Wilson was to un- 
veil the monument that in reality it would be unveiled by Miss Eleanor Wil- 
son, the President's youngest daughter, who for some reason had later been 
selected. Mr. Fort stated that President Wilson had always been a provident 
man and had evidently provided against such events by having three daugh- 
ters, so that while Miss Margaret was absent to-day we still had the honor 
of having a daughter of the former Governor of New Jersey, and now the 
President of the United States, to unveil the monument. Then, amidst a 
thunder of applause, Miss Wilson pulled the cord releasing the flag, and with 
a salvo of thirteen guns to the thirteen original States, and the band playing 
"Hail New Jersey", the flag gracefully fell to the base of the monument. 
For a moment the audience stood silently inspecting the monument and the 
colossal bronze soldier surmounting it, and then broke forth into tumultuous 
applause. Governor Fielder then formally accepted the monument from the 
New Jersey Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission and pre- 
sented it to ex-Governor Pennypacker on behalf of the Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, who in turn then presented it to the Valley Forge Park Commis- 
sion of Pennsylvania, and it was accepted by the Hon. William H. Saj^en, 
President of the Commission. 

The speeches are printed also in the newspaper clippings accompanying 
this report. 

After the acceptance of the monument by the Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission, Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, President of Rutgers College, delivered the 
oration : 

ORATION OF DR. W. H. S. DEMAREST, PRESIDENT OF 
RUTGERS COLLEGE. 

On Decernber 19, 1777, Washington went into winter quarters at Val- 
ley Forge, On June 18, 1778, the army left the camp for the field again. 
On June 19, 1878, the one hundredth anniversary of the evacuating of the 
camp was celebrated with due ceremony in memory of the men who were at 
Valley Forge during that winter. Immediately upon this centennial celebra- 

38 




A View of the New Jersey Monument at Valley Forge as it unveiled, 
June 18th, 1913. 



tion associations were formed and movements promoted looking to permanent 
memorial of the soldiers and the scenes of those memorable daj's. Govern- 
ments are not always ungrateful, and Acts of the United States Congress and 
Acts of State Legislatures encouraged the noble sentiment of private citizens 
and forwarded the practical work undertaken by them. The State of Penn- 
sylvania, as was natural, acted most promptly and most largely. This ground 
of the encampment was acquired, a park dedicated to patriotism was created 
and monuments have been erected. The State of New Jersey, by Act of its 
Legislature, 1912, officially took its place in the memorial movement. To- 
day, June 18, 1913, the 135th anniversary of the evacuation. New Jersey's 
monument is dedicated. 

It is all a commemorating of singular devotion and suffering, singular 
patience and sacrifice. National pride and filial respect find few scenes in 
our American history, or in all history perhaps, more worthy of remembrance. 
In stress of circumstance which we find it hard to imagine, in experience in 
which we find it hard even by wildest fancy to place ourselves in our times 
of peace and comfort, the spirit of our fathers erected its own enduring monu- 
ment in the hearts of the children, heirs to the rich heritage purchased with 
their blood. It is not they alone who fight in the forefront of the battle, or 
they even most of all, who deserve the monument in solid stone or steadfast 
memory. They also serve who only stand and wait. There are honors of 
the camp as great as those of anj^ battle-field. There were heroes of the new 
patriotism as noble in the huts of Valley Forge as on the field of Monmouth. 

It falls to us to rehearse in some brief fashion the cause of war, of 
field and camp, related to that fateful winter we commemorate and the men 
we honor here to-day. The new cause had not gone well through those lat- 
ter months of 1777. Defeat rather than victory, depression rather than en- 
couragement, had befallen the Continental troops. Brandywine (September 
11) and Germantown (October 4) not, it is true, without their compensa- 
tions, marked the path of disaster. Lord Howe with his forces now occu- 
pied Philadelphia. Winter had come on. The wisest disposing of our 
forces was not an easy problem. Should they remain in the field, pressing 
the campaign as best they might, engaging the enemy as chance might offer, 
or should they go into camp, ceasing for the time the urgent warfare, wait- 
ing the new season and a new call to arms. If they should go into camp, 
it might be at Wilmington or Trenton. But Wilmington was not strategic, 
and Trenton was not secure ; the one was not apt to any needed and swift 
action; the other would always be in peril of the foe. Council on the ques- 
tion was held November 30. There was divided judgment on the question. 
The decision at the last had to be Washington's alone. He decided on a 
camp life for the winter ; he decided on Valley Forge as the place of the 
camp, a place first suggested perhaps by Colonel Lutterloh at the Council of 
November 30. That his going into camp should meet sharp criticism was 
not strange. There were those ready enough to find fault with him on any 
pretext. There were those who in all honesty and eagerness felt that patriotic 
zeal and the exigencies of the cause demanded persistently active campaign. 
The Council of Pennsylvania officially and vigorously disapproved. Amid 
the many things that stir our admiration for the great leader of our cause 
during those months of mighty stress upon all his resources of brain and heart 
and character, this is not the least, that he ordered the army to encamp, and 
that he chose this place for the encampment. It was a strategic place. 

40 




S -o 



41 



Washington, giving reasons for choice, says: "These cogent reasons have 
determined the General to take post in the neighborhood of this camp and, 
influenced bj' them, he persuades himself that the officers and soldiers with 
one heart and mind will resolve to surmount every difficulty with a forti- 
tude and patience becoming their profession and the sacred cause in which 
they are engaged. He himself will share in the hardships and partake of 
every inconvenience," General Howe himself, after a long winter of restraint 
from attack, wrote the minister at home, April 19, that in spite of the 
enemy's diminishing by desertion and detachment, "their situation is too 
strong to hazard an attack with a prospect of success." It was well related to 
the British camp in the great city — to watch it ; and to guard eastern Pennsyl- 
vania and New Jersey. It lent itself well to adequate defense, bj'^ its ridges, 
its well fortified slope. It was situated in a country which naturally should 
have been abundant in supplies. So the army that was weary and bruised, 
leaving Whitemarsh December 11, marched its short but painful way to this 
place, then wooded and bleak, arriving December 19, to make its home here 
while a half year dragged its slow course; and in January, 1778, a Commit- 
tee of Congress visited Valley Forge, endorsed the action taken and pledged 
full support. 

In the native confusion and the solitude the great commander saw a sol- 
diers' city in the making. Huts sprang up ; streets of rude habitation shaped 
themselves; the camp life began its monotonous routine. The story had 
begun which was to be forever strange and awful and glorious, the story 
which we enshrine to-day. For the winter weather came in bitterness of cold 
and storm. The snow fell and drifted and made the camp a prison. Supplies 
failed; food and clothing, needed and expected, failed to come. Without 
blankets the soldiers lay sometimes on the icy ground ; with shoes worn out 
and clothing tattered, they shivered and froze. Without meat and bread they 
grew weak and nigh starvation. Sickness spread throughout the camp. How 
many of the eleven thousand there died we do not know; it is estimated that 
three thousand were buried in the camp or near by; one-third are reported 
at one time unfit for service. The commissary department, commanding sub- 
stantial supplies, in utmost inefficiency, failed to get them to the camp. Con- 
gress was without its earlier strong men and failed to grasp and master the 
situation. Officials named by Congress for immediate duty were unequal to 
it. In this country roundabout were farmers well nigh exhausted by the 
exactions of war ; some of them disaffected to the national cause, some of them 
eager for British coin rather than Continental paper. General Varnum writes 
to General Greene: "The situation of the camp is such that in all human 
probability the army must dissolve." 

In all this distress, almost at once acute and continuing acute for weeks, 
Washington remained supremely the master of the situation. His letters 
from Valley Forge are masterpieces of a noble mind, of a military genius, 
and of a scholar in the English language. He does not fail to clearly declare 
the stress of circumstances, to arraign the parties who seem to him at fault, 
to applaud the soldiers who endure all privation with him and to keep his 
spirit in control over himself and his followers. In the midst of that bitter 
fellow-suffering with those who gave his word obedience came the "Conway 
Cabal," the treacherous plotting and undermining by officers in high place. 
Gates, Conway, Mifflin, revealed to him and defeated with prompt self- 
assertion. 

42 



With him was the persistent spirit of the soldier in the ranks. Amid 
the death and sickness, amid the nakedness and hunger, the desertions were 
not many, and mutiny did not rise. It was hard to wait; it was hard to 
suffer; it was hard to be in want for others' fault; it was hard to endure for 
what seemed a losing cause ; it was hard to trust the government. Com- 
plaints there must have been and restlessness, protests and self pit}^ But 
through it all, the patience, the endurance, the actual waiting, the loyal sub- 
mitting, the endless hoping for the day of new life, of busy conflict, and far 
reaching triumph. Washington himself wrote to Governor Clinton: "Naked 
and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience 
and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been ere this excited by their 
sufferings to a general mutiny and desertion." Under date of March 20, 
he wrote: "By death and desertion we have lost a good many men since we 
came to this ground and have endured every species of hardship that cold, 
wet and hunger, and want of clothes were capable of producing." And under 
date of April 21, he wrote: "No order of men in the United States has 
paid a more sacred regard to the proceedings of Congress than the army; for 
without arrogance or the smallest deviation from truth it may be said that 
no history now extant can furnish one instance of an army's suffering such 
uncommon hardships as ours has done and bearing them with the same patience 
and fortitude." 

And most remarkable withal, there was in time the training, the organiz- 
ing, the strengthening, the compacting; of a force that was to be as great at 
leaving Valley Forge as when it came, and vastly stronger, more efficient. 
Baron Steuben brought his old-world discipline to the task. Devoting 
himself to the cause of the new Republic, he cast his lot with the leader at 
Valley Forge. Washington was to make the winter tell all it could for the 
army in its grasp. A whole new organization seemed the thing. And the 
man for the undertaking he found in Baron Steuben, of Frederick's 
Staff, and hero of the Seven Years' War. He succeeded Conway as Inspec- 
tor General. The Baron himself tells of the problem he faced, the troops 
disorganized, depleted, weakened. By the system he established, the drill 
he imposed, the spirit he infused ; by his wisdom and his strngth, his military 
genius, he wrought out with Washington a force that had in it the prophecy 
of signal success. 

The army lingered at Valley Forge until the British moved from Phila- 
delphia. On May 7th a great celebration and religious thanksgiving for the 
acknowledging of the independence of the United States by France was held. 
Before leaving, Washington, as directed by Congress, administered the oath 
of allegiance to all officers; several stood forth at a time, each with a hand 
on the Bible, to swear their loA'al service to their country. Swiftly on the 
news of the evacuation of Philadelphia, June 18, Sir William Howe having 
given way to Sir Harry Clinton, the army moved toward the pathway of the 
British. And the full, fierce rush of war was again begun on the battle-field 
of Monmouth. 

So much in swift picture as back-ground of the men whom we to-day 
count primarily ours, the men of New Jersey who here camped, suffered, 
endured, died, triumphed. They were the men of New Jersey's new enlist- 
ment, the Second Establishment, as it was called. They were known as the 
"Jersey Line" or Maxwell's Brigade. The First Establishment of New 
Jersey had been organized in the autumn of 1775. Act of Congress Septem- 

43 



ber 1 6, 1776, called for the Second Establishment. The State of New Jer- 
sey acted in conformity September 26. In October the troops, the First 
Establishment, were at Ticonderoga, and rumors were rife of the disaffec- 
tion of New Jersey soldiers. On the 25th of that month a committee of the 
Legislature of New Jersey, John S. Symmes and Teunis Dey, reviewed them. 
The committee reported November 22, relating "the sad conditions of the 
soldiers," but showing also "the unquenchable ardor with which they entered 
the service of their country." And the organizing of the Second Establish- 
ment was begun. Most of the men in the old enlistment were ready to en- 
list again; some officers were elected as early as November 28. Four Bat- 
talions were formed, the first fiilly organized December, 1776; the second 
early in February, 1777; the fourth late in February; the third was not in 
the field until the end of April. On October 23, 1776, Colonel William 
Maxwell was made Brigadier General by Congress. He assumed command 
of the four New Jersey Battalions, which thenceforth bore the name "Max- 
well's Brigade." In May, 1777, they were placed in the division of the 
American Army commanded by Major General Adam Stephens, of North 
Carolina. They were encamped for a time at Elizabethtown, Bound Brook, 
and Spanktown (Rahway). Late in the summer they had moved a little 
southward, and they were not far away when Lord Howe's fleet came up 
Chesapeake Bay. While the eighteen thousand troops of the British fleet 
were disembarking on the 25th of August, a picked corps of our men under 
General Maxwell protected the front of the American Army. From that 
time until Brandywine, September 1 1 , the Jerseymen were in constant action, 
in repeated skirmishes. At Brandywine, the battle was opened by a portion 
of the Jersey line, who stayed in action through the day; General Maxwell 
and General Stirling as well, of New Jersey, were in gallant action. For a 
time events moved fast. Philadelphia was occupied on September 26. The 
battle of Germantown, October 4, soon followed, in which the Jersey Line 
fought in the division of Lord Stirling, who gained no small distinction. 
With North Carolina troops, under General Francis Nash, Maxwell's 
Brigade formed the left wing of the American Army under Stirling. The 
First Battalion was especially conspicuous, suffering a heavy loss of officers and 
men. Then came the march to Valley Forge, December 19. How many 
of the New Jersey men went into camp we do not know. It might be sup- 
posed the whole Brigade. It may at least be fairly inferred that most of it was 
there. But the whole encampment numbered but about eleven thousand men, 
and the Brigade would number over five thousand. It is scarcely probable that 
half the camp at Valley Forge was of New Jersey men. It is interesting to note 
that at the moment New Jersey soldiers were thus withdrawn from their 
own State, Congress was moved to urge measures for the protection of that 
State. In December, 1777, Congress "Resolved that General Washington 
be informed that, in the opinion of Congress, the State of New Jersey de- 
mands, in a peculiar degree, the protection of the armies of the United States, 
so far as the same can possibly be extended, consistent with the safety of the 
army and the general welfare, as the State lies open to attack from so many 
quarters, and the struggles which have been made by the brave and virtuous 
inhabitants of that State, in defence of the common cause, cannot fail of ex- 
posing them to the particular resentment of a merciless enemy." To which 
Washington replied from Valley Forge, December 22d: "As to Jersey, I 
am sensible of her sufFerings and exertions in the present contest, and there 

44 



is no State to which I would more willingly extend protection — but I can- 
not in degree expected and desired divide the armj'." Tenacious in his 
judgment that he has chosen the wise and necessary course in going into camp 
rather than taking the field, in holding New Jersey soldiers in the camp, he 
nevertheless writes in this letter of the alarming deficiency or rather total 
failure of supplies, and in a letter of the next day, December 23, says there 
are but three choices, to starve, to dissolve, or to disperse in order to obtain 
subsistence in the best manner they can. It was at the war's end, as Con- 
gress voiced it at that day, that New Jersey's loss in men and property was 
greatest perhaps of all the thirteen States. The paths of war were every- 
where across the State and often trod. Her devotion was equal to lier 
deprivation. Her services and sacrifices deserve the enduring remembrance 
of sister States, and she deserves high place upon the roll of honor. Her 
militia was loyal to Washington, and for a time composed the greatest 
strength of his army. Washington's own esteem for New Jersey, her people, 
soldiers, spirit, is displayed in other letters from Valley Forge, as in one of 
February 16, where he recognizes the generous provision of supplies by the 
State, as by Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, and in one of June 10, 
where he says: "I would do injustice to the States of Maryland and New 
Jersey were I not to add that they are likely to get their regiments nearly 
completed." Governor Livingston finds occasion to write Washington, under 
date of March 2, 1778: "I am happy to find that the State of New Jersey 
possesses so great a share of your esteem." ^Maxwell's Brigade was indeed 
one of the crack Brigades of the army. At Valley Forge Washington camped 
with it for a time. And for a time it was his body-guard. When the awful 
winter was past and spring too was gone, at the movement of the British, 
June 18, the Jersey Line was detached and sent with Morgan's Riflemen 
to harass Lord Clinton in his march across the Jerseys — and this it did per- 
sistently — and on June 28, it joined the left wing of the army and fought 
on the home field of Monmouth. The men we honor were thus at the very 
heart of things in the crisis days of the Revolution — at the turning of the 
tide of fortune — at the heart of the strategic camp life of the time — at the 
heart of the strategic battle of the time. And so the years ran on until victory 
and peace came in; and the New Jersey troops came home November 31, 

1783. 

In the absence of details concerning the New Jersey men at Valley 
Forge, details of their particular affairs as a Brigade, as Battalions, or as 
individual men, distinguished from the circumstances common to all the 
forces, I must content myself with some rehearsing of the spirit and the record 
of the Jerseymen representing as officers all soldiers of the Jersey Line. 

It is fitting that we exalt in our thought to-day the life, service and char- 
acter of William Maxwell, Brigadier General, whose name is attached with 
the New Jersey Line in a rare, unusual wa^^ He was born in Ireland, of 
a distinguished line, his forebears people of rank and quality. At fourteen 
years of age he came to this country, and people of his connection were notable 
among the early settlers of Warren, Sussex and Hunterdon Counties. He 
served in the French and Indian War, 1755; was with Braddock and Wolfe. 
Resigning his commission in the British Army, he went on foot to Trenton 
and offered his services to the Provincial Congress and received a Colonel's 
commission. He was also a member of the Provincial Congress of New Jer- 
sey in 1775. In 1776, October 23, he was elected by Congress Brigadier 

45 



General in the Continental Army and came in command of the four Battalions 
known as the New Jersey Brigade, New Jersey Line, or Maxwell's 
Brigade. It was largely through his spirit, his vigorous and wise cam- 
paigning, that the British, in possession of much of the State, were 
driven from virtually all its territory save New Brunswick and Perth 
Amboy. He was drastic in his treatment of the Tories. He was at 
Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, but was not at Long Island, 
Trenton (December 26, 1776,) or Princeton. Virtually all the winter, 
1777-78, he was at Valley Forge, and enjoyed the special regard of 
Washington. Two 5'ears later, June 23, 1780, he was at the battle of 
Springfield, where, it is said, "Maxwell and the New Jersey Line again dis- 
tinguished themselves;" he assisted in driving Knyphausen and the Hessians 
out of the State. It appears that on the same day he resigned his commis- 
sion and on July 25 the resignation was accepted. It does not appear just 
why this was, but it may readilly be inferred that it was due tO;. some dis- 
affection, perhaps to the preference of some one over him in action by higher 
authority. He spent his later life upon a farm. He died in 1796. He was 
a frank, large-hearted, winning man ; a dashing soldier, an able officer — a 
great favorite with officers and men. He gave long service in the field to 
his mother country and his adopted country. Some one has spoken of him 
as "one of the purest, noblest and (most) unassuming characters that has 
(have) ever adorned the brightest page of American history." On the stone 
at his grave in the yard of the Presbyterian Church, of Greenwich Township, 
is this tribute to him: 

In the Revolutionary War which established 

the independence of the 

United States 

He took an early, an active part; 

A Distinguished military partisan. He arose 

Through different grades of the American 

Army to the rank of Brigadier General ; 

A Genuine Patriot, 
He was a firm and decided Friend 
To the Constitution and Government of his Country; 
In private Life he was equally devoted to its service, 
And to the good of the community of which he was a member; 
An honorable and charitable man, 
A warm and affectionate Friend, 
A zealous advocate of the Institutions and 

an active promoter of the 
Interests of the Christian Religion 

High in our remembrance to-day must be the Jerseyman of highest rank 
at Valley Forge, that romantic figure, William Alexander, Lord Stirling, in 
command of a Division as Maxwell was in command of a Brigade. A 
glamour hangs about his life, out of his claim to peerage in the old world, 
and the courtly circumstance of his home in the new world, a glamour which 
must not obscure the sturdy, splendid qualities of this soldier and gentleman. 
His father, James Alexander, implicated in the cause of the Stuarts, had fled 
from Scotland in 1 7 16, and the son was born in the city of New York in 
1726. In his manhood he laid claim to the Earldom of Stirling, the title 

46 



and the estates, and went to Scotland to press the claim ; though failing in 
the end, he had an initial success which made him popularly known always 
thereafter as Lord Stirling — as his daughter was known as Lady Kitty. He 
established his home at Basking Ridge, New Jersey, living in a noble man- 
sion in a splendid park, and entertaining in large and lordly fashion. He 
became Surveyor General of the Province and was a member of the Provin- 
cial Assembly and a member of the King's Council. He was verj- friendly 
with Governor William Franklin, whom it was his necessity to arrest at a 
later time when the Governor was deposed by the Provincial Assemblv. 
His wife was a sister of Governor William Livingston. Enlisting early in 
the Continental Army and receiving a Colonel's commission in early 1776, 
he was really in command at New York until Washington arrived from Bos- 
ton. During the winter, 1776-77, he was probably part of the time with the 
army at Morristown, part of the time at his home near by. He captured a 
British man-of-war in New York Harbor; he opened the fight at Trenton; 
he was taken prisoner at Long Island, where his bravery saved much of the 
army, August, 1776; he was in the critical place at Monmouth. He was 
promoted to be Brigadier General, and then for distinguished service to be 
Major General, February 19, 1777, within a year. During the winter, 
1777-78, he was at Valley Forge, his daughters Mary (Mrs. Watts) and 
Catharine (Mrs. Duer, married 1779,) w^ere with him, as Mrs. Washington 
had joined the Commander-in-Chief. He it was who revealed the "Con- 
way Cabal" to Washington, writing, "Such marked duplicity I shall always 
consider it my duty to detect;" the outcome of this service of his being the 
exposure and collapse of the conspiracy and the preserving of the army to 
Washington. After Monmouth he was President of the Court that tried 
General Lee. During the winter, 1778-79, the army was at Camp Middle- 
brook, not far from his home, and when, on February 18, a grand fete was 
held at Pluckamin, a distinguished company gathered at Basking Ridge. Li 
1 78 1 he was ordered to take command of the Northern Department; his 
headquarters were at Albany; and he died in that city in 1783, at the early 
age of 57. He was buried in the yard of the old Dutch Church; his re- 
mains were later, on the demolishing of that church building, removed to the 
Protestant Episcopal yard ; and later once again they were removed to the 
Rural Cemetery. It is said of him that he left behind him "the reputation 
of a brave, skillful and intrepid commander, and an honorable, honest and 
pure man." The sacrifices which he made and the efforts he put forth in 
the cause of Independence will embalm his memory in all coming time. 
"Throughout the ^^•ar (he was) ever conspicuous among the leading and most 
noted of the Revolutionary generals. His appearance was inspiring, and it 
has been said that, next to Washington, he possessed the most martial pres- 
ence of any commander in the army." He was ardently devoted to Wash- 
ington and close in his confidence. Washington, in his letter of condolence, 
said: "It only remains then, as a small but just tribute to the memory of 
Lord Stirling, to express how deeply I share the common affliction in being 
deprived of the public and professional assistance as well as of the private 
friendship of an officer of so high rank, with whom I had lived in the strictest 
habits of amity, and how much those military merits of his Lordship, which 
rendered him respected in his life time, are now regretted by the whole army. 
It will doubtless be a soothing consideration in the poignancy of your grief 
to find the general officers are going into mourning for him." 

47 



The action of Congress reads : "Resolved, that the President signify- 
to the Commander-in-Chief in a manner most respectful to the late Major 
General, the Earl of Stirling, the sense the Congress entertains of the early 
and meritorious excursions of that general in the common cause, and of the 
bravery, perseverance and militarj^ talents he possessed; which, having fixed 
their esteem for his character while living, induce a proportionate regret for 
the loss of an officer who has rendered such constant and important service 
to his country," 

Let me name to you the Colonels of the Four Battalions. The Colonel 
of the First Battalion, Second Establishment, was Matthias Ogden. The 
first Colonel was Silas Newcomb, but he had been soon promoted to be 
Brigadier General, before the daj'S of Brandywine, Germantown and Val- 
ley Forge. Colonel Ogden was born at Elizabethtown in 1754, and died 
there in 1791. He joined the army under Washington at Cambridge. In 
1775 he was in the attack on Quebec and was wounded. In 1776, when 
only twenty-two years of age, he became Lieutenant Colonel of the First 
Battalion in the First Establishment, then in the Second Establishment. Suc- 
ceeding Colonel Newcomb, he commanded the Battalion to the end of the 
war. He was taken prisoner at Elizabethtown in 1780. At the close of the 
war, September 20, 1783, he became Brigadier General. An item of the 
human touch in all the war circumstance, a hint of the close friendships of 
men in the hard places of life, appears in the name which he gave to his son, 
Francis Barber Ogden, after Francis Barber, Lieutenant Colonel in his Bat- 
talion, who, no doubt, was with him in all the bitter da}'s of Valley Forge. 

The Colonel of the Second Battalion, Second Establishment, was Israel 
Shreve. We know little of him, the date or place of birth or death. It is 
said of him somewhere, simply, that he was a distinguished officer in the Con- 
tinental Line of New Jersey during the entire period of the war; that he 
was wounded in the thigh at Brand3'wine; that after the war he settled in 
Ohio. A happy personal glimpse of him comes to us from an address to 
him in 1779 at Newark, where he was quartered, an address of people near, 
through Dr. William Burnet, Jr. : "Deeply impressed with a grateful sense 
of the obligation the inhabitants of this town are under unto you, sir, and the 
other officers of the Second New Jersey Regiment, permit me, in the name and 
by order of a committee appointed for that purpose, to assure y^ou that we shall 
alwaj'S retain the warmest sentiments of gratitude and respect for the great 
attention you have paid to the welfare, peace and safety of the town during 
y^our command here. The great regularity and good order that has been 
maintained among the troops, their respectful treatment of the inhabitants 
and the constant harmony that has subsisted between them and the soldiery, 
we are sensible, has been greatly owing to the prudence, diligence and care 
of their officers," etc. 

The Colonel of the Third Battalion, Second Establishment, was Elias 
Dayton. Like Colonel Ogden, he was born in Elizabethtown and died there. 
He was born in 1737 and died in 1807. He joined the British forces for 
the French and Indian War. With the Jersey Blues he was under Wolfe 
at Quebec. He commanded a company of militia against the Indians in the 
North. At the opening of the Revolution he was a member of the Commit- 
tee of Safety. In July, 1775, he was with Lord (General) Stirling at the 
capture of the British transport off Elizabethtown. In 1777 he became Col- 
onel in the Second Establishment; and he served until the end of the war. 

48 



He was at Springfield, Brandywine, Monmouth and Yorktown ; and, we 
assume, at Valley Forge. In 1781 he aided in suppressing mutiny. At the 
close of the war, 1783, he was made Brigadier General; and he became Major 
General of Militia. After the war also he served several terms in the State 
Legislature. In 1787-88 he was a member of the Continental Congress. 
And he was the first President of the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati. 

The Colonel of the Fourth Battalion was Ephraim Martin. He was 
born in 1733, probably in Somerset or Middlesex County, possibly Warren, 
and died at New Brunswick, Middlesex County, February 28, 1806. Dur- 
ing his early manhood he lived in Sussex County, was a landholder there not 
later than 1761, and an office-holder in 1774. At the close of the Revolu- 
tionary War he made his home at Bernardstown, Somerset County, and later 
moved to New Brunswick. He is buried in the old graveyard at Stelton, 
his grave still marked by the old headstone. Ephraim Martin served his 
country with ability, bravery and distinction. Edmund J. James, now Presi- 
dent of the University of Illinois, wrote of him in 1897: "He was a mem- 
ber of the Provincial Congress at Trenton, October 20, 1775, also of the 
Congress which met in May, 1776, which was the Congress that changed 
the Constitution of New Jersey from that of a Colony to that of a State. 
He was Colonel of a Battalion of General Nathan (or Nathaniel) Heard's 
Brigade of New Jersey Militia, ordered to reinforce the defences of New 
York. His commission is dated June 14, 1776. He was wounded August 
24, 1776, by a musket ball in the breast, at the outposts, previous to the bat- 
tle of Long Island, which occurred August 27, 1776. He became Colonel 
of the Fourth Battalion in the Second Establishment of the New Jersey Con- 
tinental Line, November 28, 1776. He was wounded in the head at the 
battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777; was at Valley Forge during the 
famous winter, and marched across New Jersey as far as Princeton in June, 
1778; was stationed there with a reserve at the time of the battle of Mon- 
mouth, June 27, 1778. He resigned from the service at some later date, 
the exact time being unknown." General Stryker says of Colonel Martin 
and Major Ludlow with General Heard and their men enlisted in June, 
1776: "The good service they performed is recorded in history. At the 
engagement of Quinton's Bridge, Hancock's Bridge, Three Rivers, Con- 
necticut Farms and Van Neste's Mills they bore an active part. At Long 
Island, Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, Springfield and ]\Ionmouth they 
performed efficient service in supporting the Continental Line." Colonel 
Martin's wounding, August 24, 1776, Washington thinks of import enough 
to report to Congress ; for in a letter of tw^o days later, August 26, addressed 
to the President of Congress, he writes of skirmishing and wing firing, "in 
which Colonel Martin, of the Jersey Lines, has received a wound in his 
breast w^hich, it is apprehended, will prove mortal." He survived, however, 
to be wounded again at Brandywine, only to recover again and share the suf- 
fering of Valley Forge and the fighting of Monmouth. At the evacuation 
of the Camp, he was not, it would seem, in command of the Battalion ; Lieu- 
tenant Colonel O'Rhea was apparently in charge. 

Would that I had time to dw^ell upon others of the Jerseymen known as 
men of Valley Forge, and known in their military and private record because 
they were officers, as well as men of character and achievement : 

John Doughty, of honorable descent, a graduate of King's College, Cap- 
tain in the Second Battalion, after the war Lieutenant Colonel and in 1793 

49 



Brigadier General; Commander-in-Chief of the Armj^ of the United States, 
1784-89; born in New York, 1754; died in Morristown, 1826; a man of 
varied usefulness, of genial spirit, of devoted patriotism, of soldierly presence. 

Francis Barber, born in Princeton; after gallant service. Major, then 
Lieutenant Colonel in the Third Battalion, and later Colonel; a brave sol- 
dier, who lost his life at New Windsor bj' strange accident on a daj^ when 
he was to dine with Washington, and of whom Washington said, when the 
news was brought, "Men of higher rank and more wealth may die, but there 
is but one Francis Barber." 

Ebenezer Elmer, after earlier service, joined the Second Battalion under 
Colonel Shreve, and was appointed Surgeon of the Regiment, having studied 
medicine somewhat under his brother Jonathan, a distinguished physician; 
was at the siege of Yorktown; became Adjutant General, then Brigadier 
after Valley Forge was with General Sullivan in the Indian Country, then 
General of New Jersey Militia, and commanded troops to defend Philadel- 
phia, in 1 81 3; served in the New Jersey Assembly and became Speaker of 
it ; and was President of the Society of the Cincinnati ; a man of fearlessness 
and unselfishness and supreme integrity, who died in 1843, at the age of 91. 

Perhaps I have digressed too much from the private soldier, the hun- 
dreds and thousands whose names are scarce known save on a list of enlisted 
men or men discharged ; digressed, perhaps, too much from Valley Forge, 
where they lived the life or died the death we commemorate to-day. I might 
prolong our stay with those men in those scenes had I time to quote to you 
from the diary of Joseph Clark, a private soldier in the New Jersey ranks. 
But I forebear. The story of Valley Forge has been told in many ways by 
many men. The sweep of that winter's experience sustained by our Amer- 
ican forces has been well graven on the hearts of a grateful people. Much 
of detail we would like so much to have touching events and men in those 
six months will never be known. The New Jersey Line, Maxwell's Brigade, 
has had its own peculiar tribute to-day; a little in these words of mine, fall- 
ing so far short of worthy praise; and more in this monument that rises in 
enduring stone ; still more in this thronging presence of men and women 
gathered to give honor; and most of all in the thought of thousands who here 
and elsewhere this hour remember the hero soldiers of our honored State. 



At the conclusion of the ceremonies Rt. Rev. Bishop McFaul, of the 
Trenton Diocese of New Jersey, delivered the benediction, and at its con- 
clusion a farewell salute of one gun reverberated among the hills and valleys of 
the old Valley Forge Encampment and the strains of the "Star Spangled Ban- 
ner" echoed over the graves of the silent dead, commemorating the heroic 
deeds of those who fought to bring about the birth of our Nation, and when 
taps sounded there was not a dry e^e in the assemblage. 

As the newspapers patriotically published all the events relating to the 
New Jersey monument at Valley Forge and the dedication ceremonies, the 
Commission feels that the filing and publication of these reports will be more 
interesting to the public thany any statement made by it. 

As heretofore stated, the State of Pennsylvania has purchased some five 
hundred acres of ground near Valley Forge where the Continental Army, 

50 



under General Washington, was encamped during the winter of 1777 and 
1778. The encampment was selected simply for a winter quarters for the 
army and no fighting ever occurred there. Twelve of the original Colonies 
were represented there under various Brigades, namely: Maine, then part 
of Massachusetts; Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Penns)4vania, Delaware, Maryland, 
Virginia and North Carolina. Of these States Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, 
Maine, Delaware and New Jersey are the only ones represented so far by 
monuments. Maine has a granite shaft from her native hills; Massachusetts 
has a magnificent Exhedra and Pennsylvania an equestrian statue to Major 
General Anthony Wayne and two columns surmounted by handsome bronze 
eagles at the entrance to the Park where the Pennsylvania troops were quar- 
tered. The State of New Jersey is represented by a magnificent Barre 
granite shaft, surmounted by a Continental soldier of the Infantry Line, which 
has attracted much attention and is greatly admired for its stateliness and 
magnificence. The only comment of criticism so far elicited has been how 
the Commission erected so magnificent a monument for so small an amount 
of monej^ The explanation of this is — the full amount appropriated by the 
Legislature went into the cost of the monument and bronze figure. Every 
bidder was appealed to patriotically to give quantity, quality and spiritedness 
of design and to remember that it was a patriotic contribution rather than 
a financial matter, and where business reputation would be enhanced by a 
grand exhibit at Valley Forge. Besides this, the Commission thoroughly in- 
formed itself as to the kinds of granite and bronzes, and by comparisons with 
other monuments as to size and cost was able to compute the values of bids 
as well as the bidders. A tentative design and dimensions were given bidders 
so the matter of price was eliminated, as all were notified to bid on a five 
thousand dollar monument absolutely. 

By correspondence, herein inserted, it will be found that the State of 
Pennsjdvania has consented, through its Valley Forge Park Commission, to 
allow the State of New Jersey to erect the monument at Valley Forge, and 
conferred upon our Commission the privileges incident to the erection of the 
monument and the dedicatory services. Our Commission takes this oppor- 
tunity to thank the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsylvania for its 
uniform kindness and courtesy to the New Jersey Commission and its 
President for its services to him and the many courtesies extended by way 
of assistance, thereby relieving him and them of responsibilities, as the New 
Jersey Valley Forge Revolutionary Commission was widely separated, and 
it was inconvenient at all times to call them together, and the Valley Forge 
Park Commission acted as arbiter under its rights as representing the State 
of Pennsjdvania, owner of the Valley Forge Encampment. The State of 
Pennsylvania, through its Commission, accepts the guardianship of the New 
Jersey monument and its preservation. The only thing that the State of 

51 



New Jersey will ever possibly be called upon to do will be to have the monu- 
ment cleaned with acid some time in the future and possibly some little 
ornamentation around the base. This, however, will be only a trifling ex- 
pense. 

The monument was dedicated on June i8th, 1913 — the 135th anni- 
versary of the departure of the First New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, 
under Brigadier General Maxwell, back into New Jersey, accompanied by 
Morgan's Riflemen, who, as stated, was also a Jerseyman. The Commis- 
sion feels that it would be eminently proper that the Legislature enact a law 
empowering the Commission, on the annual occurrence of this day, to place 
a wreath of flowers and laurel around the monument entwined with our Na- 
tional colors at its base, in commemoration of the undying love and gratitude 
of our citizens. 

The Commission also desires to express its thanks for the State to Rev. 
James W. Riddle, A. M., of Valley Forge, for delivering the invocation; 
to the Rt. Rev. Bishop McFaul, of the Trenton Diocese of New Jersey, for 
offering the benediction at the dedication, and to Professor Demarest, Presi- 
dent of Rutgers College, for delivering the oration, a full copy of which is 
herein published and filed with this report. 

The State of New Jersey has in late years, at considerable expense, pub- 
lished the Archives of New Jersey, and many events of not near the historical 
importance as the dedicatory ceremonies of the New Jersey Valley Forge 
monument have been included in them. Time is fleeting, and soon the his- 
tory of the Valley Forge monument will be forgotten, the participants will 
have gone; already one of the Commissioners has died, General J. Madison 
Drake, and as this monument marks for the first time upon that Mecca of 
American libertj^, the remembrance of glorious deeds of our ancestors of New 
Jersey, everything relating to the details commemorating the event is well 
worthy of being perpetuated by publication and a copy placed in every library 
in New Jersey, and in the State library of every State and Territory, that 
the citizens of the State of New Jersey, and those who formerly resided here, 
may read of the event to stimulate their patriotism by recalling the deeds 
of their ancestors and inspiring them to nobler ideals by knowing how the 
deeds of patriots are embalmed in our memories. The Commission also rec- 
ommends that the State of New Jersey have the monument insured against 
lightning and tornadoes. 

Since the erection of the New Jersey monument not only has the State 
of Delaware dedicated a suitable shaft to its heroes, but New York has 
taken steps in the Legislature for a monument to mark the site occupied by 
its troops, and the United States Government has completed a massive 
granite Memorial Arch in honor of Washington and the other patriots who 
were at Valley Forge. A handsome stone chapel has been started on the 
Schuylkill side of the Encampment to be known as the Washington Memorial 

52 




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53 



Chapel, and to be a sort of American Westminster Abbe}'. It is almost fin- 
ished and is quite an acquisition to the surroundings. This chapel, however, 
is entirely a separate enterprise and not under the control of the Valley Forge 
Park Commission, but is being erected by private subscriptions under the 
auspices of the Episcopal Church. The idea was probably inspired from 
Battle Abbey, near Hastings. 

The day for the dedication was an ideal one, warm but clear, and fully 
three thousand people, including the military, were assembled around the 
monument, remaining until the entire services were over. Many came in 
private automobiles, and those hired by the Commission for the occasion con- 
veyed the visitors to and from the depot and to the various objects of in- 
terest about Valley Forge Park, which are accessible by .the beautiful boule- 
vards constructed by the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsj'^lvania. 

As Colonel Morgan was a Jerseyman and at Valley Forge with the New 
Jersey Brigade, a sketch and picture of him is added hereto. 

The Commission feels that thanks are due to the National Guard of 
New Jersey which took part in the dedicatory services. As the appropria- 
tion for the dedication was limited to eighteen hundred dollars, which in- 
cluded the transportation of the troops as well as the subsistence, the com- 
panies were selected first from Camden to minimize the expense. Companies 
E and I, located at Mount Holly and Woodbury, were anxious to attend the 
services and conferred with the President of the Commission in reference 
to their attendance, providing they would pay the extra transportation to Cam- 
den, which patriotic offer was gladly accepted and arranged for through mili- 
tary channels. 

The annexed report of the Adjutant General gives full details of their 
participation : 

P. 46 & 137. 

THE ADJUTANT GENERAL'S REPORT, 1913. 

Dedication of Valley Forge Monument. 

State of New Jersey. 

Office of the Adjutant General. 

(Coat-of-Arms of State.) 

Trenton, May 28, 1913. 

On June 18, 19 13, the Acting Governor, James F. Fielder, who was 
accompanied by his staff, accepted on behalf of the State the monument 
erected by the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, com- 
posed of Mr. John H. Fort, President; Mr. David P. Mulford, General 
James Madison Drake, Mr. James L. Pennypacker and Mr. A. J. Demarest, 
to commemorate the encampment of the New Jersey troops (New Jersey 
Brigade, Continental Army,) at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777- 

54 



1778. The military representation from the State consisted of a battalion 
of infantry, detachment of artillery and a detachment of the Naval Reserve. 

Special Orders No. 36. 

1. The Division Commander is authorized to make the following de- 
tail for duty on June 18, 191 3, the occasion of the unveiling and dedication 
of the monument erected upon the site occupied by the New^ Jersey Brigade, 
Infantry Line, Continental Army, at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the 
winter of 1777-1778: 

Band, Third Infantry. 

I Battalion, Third Infantry. 

I Platoon, Battery B, Field Artillery. 

I Division, Second Battalion, Naval Reserve. 

2. The service performed on this occasion will be without pay except 
for the Band, Third Infantry. The Chief, Quartermaster Corps, will issue 
the necessary transportation for this movement. The cost of transportation, 
music, subsistence and horse hire will be charged to the appropriation pro- 
vided in Item 85, Chapter 276, approved April 8, 1913, Laws 1913. 

By order of the Acting Governor, 

W. F. Sadler, Jr., 
(Seal of Official Copy.) The Adjutant General. 

Natioxal Guard of New Jersey, 
Headquarters Third Infantry. 

Woodbury, N. J., July 6, 191 3. 
From: Major C. W. Shivers, Third Infantry. 
To : The Adjutant General. 
Subject : Report of Valley Forge Monument Celebration. 

1. In accordance with S. O. No. 31, headquarters Third Infantry, 
Camden, N. J., June 9, 1913, a provisional battalion was formed under my 
command, consisting of a band of forty pieces and Companies E, D, F and I, 
to take part in the celebration of the unveiling and dedication of the monu- 
ment erected by the State of New Jersey upon the site occupied by the New 
Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army, at Valley Forge, Pa., dur- 
ing the winter of 1777-78. 

2. The organization w^as assembled at the Camden Armory on June 18, 
1913, at 11.00 A. M., and were served a dinner in the basement of the build- 
ing, after which the battalion was formed and left the Armory at 12.03 
P. M. and marched to the Reading Terminal, Philadelphia, via Federal street, 
Camden, crossing river by boat, and Market street, Philadelphia, and en- 
trained in excellent order at 12.52 P. M., arriving at Valley Forge at 1.32 
P. M. The battalion was formed and marched to the monument and formed 
a line around it facing the speakers' stand, and remained in this position dur- 
ing the unveiling and dedication ceremonies, upon the conclusion of which 
it was marched to Valley Forge station and entrained at 4.45 P. M. ; de- 
trained at Reading Terminal at 5.31 P. M., and marched to the Camden 

55 



Armory and dismissed at 6.20 P. M., excepting Companies E and I, whicli 
were dismissed at the ferry to take trains for their home stations. 

3. A detachment of the Naval Reserve joined the battalion at Third 
and Federal streets, Camden, and marched with it to Valley Forge and re- 
turn, leaving it at the same place it had joined. 

4. The discipline of the command was excellent. 

5. The strength of the organization follows: 

Officers. Men. 

Field, Staff and N. C. S 4 3 

Band 40 

Company E 2 35 

Company D 3 53 

Company F 3 40 

Company 1 2 43 

Hospital Detachment 5 

Total 14 219 

C. W. Shivers, 
Major, Third Infantry, Commanding. 



56 



CAMDEN "POST-TELEGRAM' 



SHAFT WILL REAR AT VALLEY FORGE. 



John H. Fort, Chairman of Monument Commission, to Call Early Meeting. 



BIG DEMONSTRATION WILL BE ARRANGED. 



Counsellor John H. Fort has been notified by Joseph P. Tumulty, private secretary 
of Governor Wilson, of his appointment upon the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encamp- 
ment Commission. The Governor has designated him as chairman. 

The Commission was appointed by the Governor under an act of the Legislature 
passed this session which was prepared by Mr. Fort, and wag strongly supported by 
Camden Lodge of Elks, which is a patriotic Order as well as benevolent. 

All the lodges of New Jersey, thirty-eight in number in thirty-eight different 
cities, supported the Camden Lodge, and the bill passed both the House and the Senate 
unanimous!}. The bill was introduced by Mr. DeUnger, of Camden, and carried to 
the Senate by Senator Read, who got Senator Nichols to make the presentation speech. 
Mr. Fort represented the Order before the Committee on Appropriations, which imme- 
diately appropriated $5,000 for a monument to mark the site occupied by the First New 
Jersey Brigade, Continental Soldiers, consisting of four regiments, under command of 
General Maxwell in 1777-1778, during the Revolutionary War at Valley Forge. 

The dedicatory ceremonies will be observed with a grand demonstration of a mili- 
tary and civic character, and no doubt the Governors of both New Jersey and Penn- 
sylvania, and probably the President, will be present and take part in the demonstra- 
tion. Invitations will doubtless be extended to all patriotic orders of New Jersey to 
participate and help make the event in keeping with so great a tribute to the heroes 
of Revolutionary fame. 

The following is a cop}- of the official letter of notification, and Mr. Fort's ac- 
ceptance: 

"May 14th, 1912. 

"My dear Mr. Fort: 

I beg leave to inform you that Governor Wilson has appointed \ou a mem- 
ber of the Valley Forge Revolutionary Commission and has designated you as 

chairman. He trusts you will accept the appointment. 

Yours very truly, 

Joseph P. Tumulty', 

Secretary to the Governor," 

"Camden, May 15th, 1912. 
"My dear Sir: 

Your letter for Governor Wilson informing me of my appointment as a mem- 
ber of the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission is at hand. 

I beg you to inform the Governor that I most highly appreciate the distin- 
guished honor he has conferred upon me, and that he will accept my assurance 
that I will in every way endeavor to carry out the purposes of the act creating 
the Commission, and, with the assistance of the other members, have the dedica- 
tion of the monument to mark a red-letter day in observance of the honors to our 
glorious ancestors and the noble heroes who assisted with great sacrifices in the 
establishment of our Nation. 

57 



The honor is all the more appreciated by me as my great-grandfather was 
one of the soldiers who followed Washington in those memorable times. 
Again thanking the Governor for this signal honor, I am, 
Yours most respectfully, 

John H. Fort." 

The Commission will be called together in a few days and immediately arrange 
for plans and specifications for the monument after a conference with the Valley Forge 
Park Commission of Pennsylvania, which will be requisite to obtain the necessary per- 
mission to erect the monument, as Valley Forge Park belongs as a reservation to the 
State of Pennsylvania and is governed by a Commission appointed by the Governor 
of Pennsylvania. Nearly all the old thirteen Colonial States which had troops there 
have already erected monuments. The park is accessible by the Reading road and 
trolleys. 



VALLEY FORGE REVOLUTIONARY MONUMENT. ^ 

Governor Wilson has forwarded the commissions of the Valley Forge Revolu- 
tionary Monument Commission, under the great seal of the State of Newi Jersey, and 
John H. Fort, president, at once had an interview with the Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission of Pennsylvania in order to obtain all the necessary information as to pro- 
cedure before calling the New Jersey Commission together. 

Valley Forge Park is a State reservation owned by Pennsylvania, and the Com- 
missioners governing it must first grant permission and locate the site of any monu- 
ment to be erected therein. The Commissioners have rigidly adhered to the rule of 
making all the monuments to conform to the idea of being absolutely memorial and 
not savor of anything suggestive of a Necropolis. The uniform price of $5,000 has 
been established so that no one State should outdo another in the grandeur of its monu- 
ment, and all designs must be approved by them. 

On Thursday, by special invitation, Mr. Fort was the guest of President W. H. 
Sayen, Secretary Dr. John W. Jordon and W. A, Patton, of the Executive Committee, 
and was taken through Valley Forge Park in an automobile and every condition fully 
explained. He was taken to the site occupied by the First New Jersey Brigade, con- 
sisting of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Regiments, commanded by General 
Maxwell during 1777 and 1778. The site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade is near 
Washington's Headquarters inside of or near the inner line of earthworks and near 
the old school house. The site is now reached by Lafayette Boulevard, and is on 
the brow of a hill commanding a valley overlooking a succession of beautiful hills 
and affording a magnificent view of miles of beautiful undulating hills and valleys 
almost to Norristown, some five miles distant. The Commissioners selected the most 
desirable spot, and the view it commands is one of magnificence. Any one with any 
military knowledge will at once see the strategic importance of this position, and it 
is highly gratifying to know that at that distant period Washington had such con- 
fidence in the Jersey troops as to place them in this important position and so near 
his headquarters. The old camp ground occupied many acres, but its area to-day is 
confined to about 500 acres, in which are the old forts, earthworks, rifle pits, breast- 
works and Washington's Headquarters — an old stone faim house — all still well pre- 
served and in good condition. 

The park has been laid out with fine roads, walks and bridle paths and an ob- 
servatory on Mount Hope and fenced in, and in every way beautified as a park. 
Fac-similies of the old log huts have been built and parks of Revolutionary cannon 
stationed in the positions occupied at that time. The Valley Forge Park is at the con- 

58 



fluence of Valley Creek and the Schuylkill and is shaded by ample groves of woods 
almost as when occupied by the heroes of Revolutionary days. The troops quartered 
there were from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine — then part 
of Massachusetts — Rhode Island, Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware and Marjland, 
about 8,000 all told. 

The old camp ground has been restored as nearly as possible to its ancient con- 
ditions, and will for all time be the Mecca of the patriotic American citizens. The 
Commission is constantly developing it and adding to its convenience for visitors, and 
it is already being visited by delegations from all over the United States. Over 140,- 
000 visited it last year. It will be only a short time before every State having troops 
quartered there during the Revolutionarj- War will have a monument, and its his- 
torical memories will make it one of America's most cherished of American camping 
grounds. 

New Jersey is particularly fortunate in the site appointed for the location of its 
monument, as it is really the most beautiful and commanding of any in Valley Forge 
Park, and it is all the more gratifying as it is the site occupied by our troops at that 
time. Near it is the famous General Anthony Wayne equestrian statue erected by the 
State of Pennsylvania at a cost of $30,000, and near the grand columns marking the 
site of part of the Pennsylvania troops and not far from the $100,000 Colonial arch 
about to be erected by the National Government. 

Now that the information and preliminary consent of the Pennsylvania Commis- 
sioners has been obtained, Mr. Fort will call the New Jersey Commissioners together 
to advise about plans and specifications for the monument. 

Camden Lodge of Elks, at its last meeting, appointed a committee of ten to arrange 
for attendance at the dedication of the monument, and has extended an invitation 
through the committee to the Commission to hold its first meeting at the Lodge Home 
as the guests of the Lodge, and after the Commission has finished its business session 
the committee will convey the Commissioners, after lunch, to Valley Forge in auto- 
mobiles, where the Commission will meet a delegation of the Pennsylvania Commission 
and formally accept the plot for the erection of the monument to the First New Jersey 
Brigade of the Continental Line. 

Great interest is being manifested in the affair and the patriotic orders of the 
State are already asking the New Jersey Commissioners to allow them to have charge 
of the parade at the dedication, and will assume the expense. The act of Legis- 
lature providing for the erection of the monument appropriates the necessary sum of 
$S,ooo established by the Pennsylvania Valley Forge Park Commission, and nothing 
for expenses, but the patriotic citizens of New Jersey will arrange the necessary 
finances. 

It is probable that a special train or trains wnll run to Valley Forge at the dedi- 
cation, and naturally both the Governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and possibly 
the President will be present. The local societies have already declared their inten- 
tion of having a band, and the National Guard members hereabout are talking of 
asking for permission to attend the dedication also. New Jersey will no doubt that 
day turn out a crowd that will do credit to such a memorable and patriotic event. The 
Commission will be asked to allow all the civic, patriotic and military organizations to 
take part in the demonstrations and they will aid them in making their efforts a great 
success. Camden being near Valley Forge Park by reason of railroad facilities, and 
the Pennsylvania Valley Forge Park Commission having its offices in Philadelphia, 
Mr. Fort has promised to call the first meeting of the new Commission in Camden and 
to accept the kind offer of the committee of Camden Lodge of Elks, as that Lodge and 
the Order in New Jersey stood by him in the efforts to obtain the necessary legislation 
and appropriation of $5,000 for the erection of the monument. The time of the raeet- 

59 



ing will be early in June, so as to get proposals for the monument at an early date, 
and no time will be lost in completion of the monument after the design is accepted. 



THE VALLEY FORGE PARK ENCAMPMENT COMMISSION MEETS. 

Members of the Valley Forge Commission, recently appointed by the Governor in 
connection with a bill passed by the Legislature appropriating $5,000 for the proposed 
work, met at the headquarters of the Camden Lodge of Elks yesterday afternoon and 
organized. Lawyer John Henry Fort, Past Exalted Ruler of the Lodge, and who has 
been practically responsible for the creation of the Commission, was elected presi- 
dent, with James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield, brother of ex-Governor Samuel Pen- 
nypacker, of Pennsylvania, as secretary, and A. J. Demarest, of Hoboken, as treasurer. 
The other members include General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and David R. 
Mulford, of Bridgeton. 

This Commission was given a luncheon at the Elks' headquarters, after which it 
was taken to Valley Forge in automobiles to go over the proposed sites. ^The Penn- 
sylvania Valley Forge Commission, which has charge of the field, arranged to give 
the Commission the privilege of erecting a monument on the site where Jersey's Colonial 
troops camped during the winter of 1777-78. This is an ideal location and greatly to 
the satisfaction of the Commission. They have $5,000 to spend on the monument, and 
bids will be received in August for the proposed work. 

This monument will be erected in memory of the First New Jersey Brigade, con- 
sisting of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Regiments. They spent the winter in 
camp in the valley, which has become one of the sacred spots in America. Some of the 
ancestors of Lawyer Fort were among the troops. 



CAMDEN "DAILY COURIER 



CAMDEN ELKS WILL LAY MEMORIAL CORNER-STONE. 



Camden Lodge of Elks will lay the corner-stone of the monument to be erected at 
Valley Forge in memory of New Jersey's troops which participated in that historic 
campaign. The exercises will take place on November 12, and, beside a large dele- 
gation from Camden, there will also be many from all sections of the State in attend- 
ance. It is because of the prominent part played by the Elks in getting the necessarj' 
bill through the Legislature that they will have charge. 

The monument will be twenty-seven feet high and ten feet six inches square at the 
base. V^hen completed it will have cost $5,000, that amount having been appropriated 
by the Legislature. Past Exalted Ruler John Henry Fort, of Camden, is the president of 
the special commission, with A. R. Demarest, Hoboken, treasurer ; James L. Pennypacker, 
Haddonfield, secretary; General J. Madison Drake, Elizabeth, and David P. Mulford, 
Bridgeton. 



THE PHILADELPHIA "RECORD" 



SHAFT TO JERSEY HEROES. 



Great Doings Planned for its Unveiling at Valley Forge. 



Valley Forge, Pa., June 14. — The unveiling and dedication, next Wednesday, of 
the monument erected upon the site here occupied bv the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry 

60 



Line, in the Continental Army, during the winter of i-j-j-j--]%, bids fair to be an im- 
pressive aflFair. The grand stand will seat i,ooo persons, and the monument is a ta'.l 
shaft of granite on a broad base, which bears the bronze memorial tablet, with the 
bronze coat-of-arms of New Jersey above. 

At the dedication ceremonies the Governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and 
their staffs will be seated among the honored guests, including legislators. The monu- 
ment will be presented to Governor Fielder, of New Jersey, by John Henrj- Fort, presi- 
dent of the Encampment Commission, and unveiled by Miss Margaret Wilson, daugh- 
ter of the President of the United States. The oration of the occasion will be delivered 
by Dr. Demarest, president of Rutgers College, and there will be an abundance of 
military display and music at suitable intervals. 



ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCH 



VALLEY FORGE SHAFT. 

The New Jersej' Valley Forge Commission, recently named by Governor Wilson 
to supervise the erection of a monument to the New Jersey heroes of the Revolutionary 
War, met at the home of Camden Lodge of Elks, on Wednesday. The Elks were most 
active in securing the necessary legislation for the monument. 

The Commission organized by the election of John Henry Fort, of Camden, as 
president; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield, a brother of former Governor Penny- 
packer, as secretary, and A. J. Demarest, superintendent of the public schools at Ho- 
boken, treasurer. The other members of the Commission are General J. Madison Drake, 
of Elizabeth, and David R. Mulford, of Bridgeton. 

The Commission, after organizing, decided to invite plans and specifications for 
the erection of a suitable monument. The Commission has an appropriation of $5,000. 
This is the maximum amount allowed to be expended by an\' State for a monument to 
its heroes at Valley Forge. 

Following the meeting the members of the Commission were entertained at luncheon 
by a committee from Camden Lodge of Elks, and at its conclusion the same committee 
took care of the visitors and went to Valley Forge in automobiles, when the New Jersey 
Commission formally accepted the site as fixed by the Pennsylvania State Valley Forge 
Commission. It is on the driveway between Mount Joy and Gulf Road, a half mile 
from the proposed National $100,000 Colonial arch. 

The site marks the location of the First New Jersey Brigade, consisting of the 
First, Second, Third and Fourth Regiments, under General Maxwell, who camped there 
in 1777-1778. 



CAMDEN "POST-TELEGRAM' 



ELKS PREPARE FOR VALLEY FORGE TRIP. 



Special Train to be Run on Day of Corner-stone Laying of Monument. 



NOVEMBER 12 IS DATE OF CEREMONY. 



John H. Fort, Esq., president of the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Com- 
mission, this morning received from Nelson B. Gaskill, Assistant Attorney General, the 
approved contract to the O. J. Hammell Company, of Pleasantville, N. J., for the erec- 

61 



tion of the State monument to mark the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade quar- 
tered at Valley Forge during the Revolution War. 

The delay has been due to the fact that the appropriation of $5,000 is not avail- 
able until November i, but now every legal requirement has been met, the Commission 
will push the monument to a successful termination. 

In consideration of the support given by the Order of Elks in New Jersey in ob- 
taining the law, and especially Camden Lodge, the Commission has invited that Lodge 
to lay the corner-stone of the monument, and the Lolge has accepted the honor. No- 
vember 12 is the date. A special committee has been appointed to arrange details, and 
this committee has secured a special train to leave at 12.30 from the Reading Terminal, 
Philadelphia. The tickets for the round trip will be $1.00, and the train will return 
about 5.20 o'clock and reach Philadelphia by supper time. 

A brass band will accompany the Lodge, and the Grand Exalted Ruler of the 
Grand Lodge of the United States of America has granted a special dispensation for 
Camden Lodge to do the work. The ritual for the occasion will be a very interesting 
one, and a fine quartette will perform the musical features. Camden Lodge expects to 
have 200 or more members in line, and many of them will be accompanied by their 
wives, daughters or lady friends. 

While the ceremonies and the special train are under the auspices of Camden 
Lodge, any person can obtain a ticket at the same price from the committee of arrange- 
ments. Senator Read, Senator Nichols and Assemblyman DeUnger have been especially 
invited for their kind attention and services in obtaining the passage of the bill in the 
Legislature. 

All the data for the box to go in the corner-stone is at hand, and Martin J. Frand, 
a member of Camden Lodge, has donated a copper box, 8 inches wide and 10 long 
by 6 in height, to receive the documents. Everything in connection with the history 
of the monument will be deposited therein and will be placed under the corner of the 
huge monument. Responses from the members are coming in by every mail, and they 
intend to show their appreciation of the honor as well as to show that the Order of 
Elks is a patriotic one. The tickets are now in the hands of the committee for sale. 

Every Lodge of Elks in New Jersey will be invited to have a delegation, and the 
general public are as welcome as the members of the Order. As the train is a special 
one, tickets can only be obtained from the committee and even on the day at the 
train gate from them only. 

The dedication of the monument will not take place till early next year, and the 
Commission will have charge of it and intend to make it an event that will gladden 
the hearts of every Jerseyman. The corner-stone laying will, however, be an attractive 
affair, and as the leaves are nearly off of the trees a fine opportunity will be afforded 
of seeing the expansive camp grounds. 



ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCH 



CONTRACT FOR SHAFT AT VALLEY FORGE. 

Trenton, Sept. 12. — The Valle}- Forge Monument Commission met yesterday at 
the State House and decided to award the contract for the proposed monument to O. J. 
Hammell, of Pleasantville, Atlantic county, New Jersey. The plan for the monument 
was also adopted, after having been submitted for the approval of the Valley Forge 
Park Commission of Pennsylvania. 

The monument is to be of Barre granite and is to have a base of four granite 
blocks, representing the four regiments that constituted the New Jersey Brigade which 

62 



was encamped with Washington at Valley Forge. On the face of these blocks, in raised 
letters, will be the words, ''New Jersey Brigade, Continental z'\rmy." The die will 
bear a bronze tablet, giving the names of the Brigade commander and the four colonels 
of the regiments, together with data as to the time and manner of erecting the monu- 
ment. Above the tablet will be the old seal of the State of New Jersey carved in 
granite. The shaft will be decorated with a design representing the Continental flag 
and will be surmounted by a bronze statue representing a soldier of the Continental 
Army. The monument will be 35 feet in height, including the eight-foot bronze figure 
at the top. 

The foundations for the monument will be put down at once, and a ceremonial for 
the laying of the corner-stone will be arranged for some time in November. It is ex- 
pected that the monument will be ready for dedication on June 18, 1913. 

The Monument Commission is composed of John H. Fort, of Camden, president; 
A. J. Demarest, of Hoboken, treasurer; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield, secre- 
tary; General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and David P. Mulford, of Bridgeton. 
The Commission is serving without compensation, and the entire $5,000 appropriated by 
the Legislature will be expended in the erection of the monument. 



CAMDEN " POST-TELEGRAM " 



ELKS WILL START BATTLE MONUMENT. 



Trip to be Made by Special Train. 



CAMDEN LODGE TO LAY CORNER-STONE OF BIG SHAFT AT VALLEY 

FORGE. 



Camden Lodge of Elks will, on November 12, lay the corner-stone of the monu- 
ment to be erected on the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade, commanded by 
Brigadier General Maxwell, at Valley Forge, under General Washington, 1777-1778, 
unless unforeseen circumstances prevent. 

The monument is twentj'-seven feet high and ten feet six inches square at base. 

There are four large granite bases of stone and upon these is a block or die with 
a bronze tablet which will bear a suitable inscription. Above this will be a repro- 
duction in bronze of the original coat-of-arms or seal of New Jersey in Colonial days. 
The shaft is also of granite and will be surmounted by a figure of a Continental sol- 
dier in bronze eight feet high. The design of both monument and statue have been 
highly praised by many who have seen the beautiful air-brush or pastel design. The 
monument will cost $5,000, the actual amount appropriated by the Legislature for its 
erection. 

The Government is now, by special permission, erecting a granite Colonial arch 
near the New Jersey monument at a cost of $100,000. It is to be 60 feet high, 50 feet 
wide and with a 35-foot arch 30 feet wide as an entrance. The Reading Railroad 
has just completed a $10,000 handsome stone depot at the station just across the road 
from Washington's headquarters. 

The laying of the corner-stone by Camden Lodge of Elks is to be made a great 
event by the members of the Lodge. Arrangements will be made with the Reading 
Railroad for a special train from the terminal in Philadelphia so that several hours 
can be spent at Valley Forge. 

The officers of Camden Lodge of Elks will do the work and a quartette will sing 
appropriate songs of that period, and the band will play the "Star Spangled Banner," 

63 



with the quartette leading and the audience will join in. An appropriate invocation will 
be offered by a Camden clergyman, and after a short talk and the ceremonies and bene- 
diction, "America" will be sung and the audience disperse after "taps," with the band 
playing "Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot?" 

Invitations will be extended to every Lodge of Elks in New Jersey and nearby 
towns in Pennsylvania. While the train arrangements are exclusively under the charge 
of Camden Lodge of Elks for the day to convey officers and members, any person de- 
siring can accompany them at the same rate, $i.oo for the round trip. 

The members will dress in dark clothing with derby hats, and a small Colonial 
flag with an Elk button will be worn. It will be a great day, and the honor is highly 
appreciated by the Camden Lodge, and was accorded them for their initiative in the 
support of the act of the Legislature which created the Commission and obtained the 
$5,000 appropriation as well as entertaining the Commission at its first meeting and 
conveying them by automobiles to Valley Forge to accept the site for the monument. 

The committee having charge of the corner-stone laying will have tickets on sale 
in a few days and they can be obtained only from them. Any person- may obtain 
tickets, and many of the members will be accompanied by their wives, daughters or 
family. There will be a car for ladies and everybody will be welcome. The monu- 
ment will not be dedicated till early next summer, but this trip will afford a grand 
opportunity to visit Valley Forge and see the historic portions and monuments. Special 
invitations will be extended to Senators Read, of Camden, and Nichols, of Cumber- 
land, and Representative DeUnger for their assistance in the Legislature. 

The Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission consists of John H. Fort, 
Camden, president; A. R. Demarest, Hoboken, treasurer; James L. Pennypacker, Had- 
donfield, secretary; J. Madison Drake, Elizabeth, and David R. Mulford, Bridgeton. 
The officers of the Elks' committee are John H. Fort, chairman; George Fischer, treas- 
urer; A. J. Milliette, secretary; Walter J. Magonigle, assistant secretary. The full 
committee will be announced later. 



CAMDEN •' POST-TELEGRAM ' 



ALL READY FOR THE VALLEY FORGE EVENT. 



Thousands Will Attend Unveiling of New Jersey's Revolutionary Monument. 



IDEA ORIGINATED WITH JOHN H. FORT. 



All the details for the unveiling and dedication, to-morrow afternoon, of the Val- 
ley Forge monument to mark the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade there dur- 
ing the winter of 1777-78 are completed. The stand is about finished, and with five 
thousand invitations issued into every county in New Jersey a large attendance is 
assured. Responses have been received from many quarters announcing that the invi- 
tations have been received and accepted. 

The various patriotic orders will be represented at the unveiling, including Sons 
of Revolution, Sons of American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution 
and other State Revolutionary and Colonial patriotic societies. An invitation was sent 
every newspaper in New Jersey and nearby States. Invitations were also extended to 
the clergy and their congregations, and over four hundred physicians in all parts of 
the State, all the officials of the National Guard of New Jersey, all the State officials 
and hundreds of citizens in every one of the twenty-one counties as well. It is doubtful 

64 



if any similar State event has ever received more publicity than this. The time of the 
running of the special train to-morrow afternoon from the Reading Terminal, Philadel- 
phia, was advertised by the railroad company. 

While the New Jersey monument at Valley Forge is partly covered so as to con- 
ceal the bronze figure of the Continental soldier on top and the tablet bearing the in- 
scription, still enough of the granite base and outline can be seen to show the hand- 
some design, and for days past hundreds of automobilists in visiting Valley Forge have 
stopped and admired what they could see of the monument. When it is known that 
over 160,000 persons visited Valley Forge last year, some idea of the popularity of this 
historical resort can be formed. 

The program for the dedicatory services to-morrow afternoon is very interesting. 
Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of the President of the United States, will unveil the 
monument and Bossle's Third Regiment Band will render the musical selections, which 
are patriotic and of the Revolutionary period. A battalion of the Third Regiment, a 
division of the Naval Reserve and a platoon of Battery B, Field Artillery, will be 
present. Governor James F. Fielder and staff will attend and almost every depart- 
ment of the State will be represented. A souvenir program containing a picture of the 
monument on the first page, also one of Miss Wilson and the Governor on the inside, 
and the Commission, as photographed at the acceptance of the site for the monument 
to the New Jersey Brigade, on which it is now erected, with full details of the cele- 
bration, will be given to those in attendance. It is printed on Continental buff paper 
with Jersey blue ink. The train leaves Reading Terminal at i o'clock to-morrow after- 
noon. Thousands of Jerseymen will be present, including a large number of Cam- 
deniens. 

The program follows: 

DEDICATION DAY PROGRAM. 

Assembling at Washington's Headquarters and march to monument. Third Regi- 
ment Band. 

Battalion of Third Regiment, National Guard, N. J. 

Division Naval Reserve, N. J. 

Valley Forge Park Commission. 

Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission. 

Governor James F. Fielder and staff, orator and guests. 

State Senators and Assemblymen. 

State officials, civic organizations and citizens. 

Governor's salute, 13 guns by Battery B, Field Artillery, N. G. of N. J. 

Invocation, Rev. Otis A. Glazebrook, D. D., of Elizabeth, N. J. 

Music by Third Regiment Band, Joseph Bossle, Sr., Chief Musician. 

Doxology by band and audience. 

Presentation of monument to the Governor of New. Jersey by John Henry Fort, 
president of the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission. 

Unveiling of monument by Miss Margaret Wilson. 

Salute of 13 guns to original States. 

Music, "Hail New Jersey," Dr. Schaaf. 

Acceptance of monument by the Governor and formal delivery to the Valley Forge 
Park Commission of Pennsylvania. 

Acceptance of monument by Valley Forge Park Commission on behalf of Pennsyl- 
vania. Music, "Spirit of '76." 

Oration, Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president of Rutgers College. Music, "Sons of 
the Nation." 

65 



Voluntary by band, "A Tribute to Friend and Foe." 

Benediction. 

Conclusion, farewell salute of one gun. 

"Star Spangled Banner." 

Taps. 

HOW IT WAS BEGUN. 

At a meeting of Camden Lodge of Elks, held on Wednesday evening, December 6, 
1911, Brother John Henry Fort, who spoke at the memorial service of Norristown Lodge 
of Elks, gave a glowing description of a visit to Valley Forge, near Norristown, Mont- 
gomery and Chester counties, Pennsylvania. 

Brother Fort described in detail the present condition of the old Revolutionary En- 
campment and stated that the State of Pennsylvania had purchased the old historic site 
and under a commission was having it restored to its original condition, which was 
rendered feasible by reason of a map recently discovered in a Holland museum, made 
by a French engineer for General Washington, that showed every detail of defence, 
location of the troops and General Washington's headquarters, as well as nhose of the 
other generals. The camping grounds have been beautified b}' fine roads and paths 
and the redoubts, forts and earthworks uncovered, and even facsimile huts erected to 
cover every detail, and cannon of the Revolutionary type placed in park, as designated 
on the old map now in possession of Cornell University. 

Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and other States of the original thirteen Col- 
onies who had troops there have erected, or are about to erect, granite markers to com- 
memorate the location. Pennsylvania has erected at great cost a granite equestrian 
statue of Major General Anthony Wayne and magnificent granite columns surmounted 
with bronze eagles. The Valley Forge Park, as restored, is one of great beauty, and 
with the beautiful Schuylkill and Valley Forge Creek flowing around the sloping hill- 
sides of Valley Forge makes it one of picturesqueness and loveliness. Hill after hil! 
rises and falls in the distance. Here were quartered, in 1777 and 1778, 8,000 young 
soldiers of noble sires from the thirteen old Colonies who battled for freedom. Thirty- 
five hundred of them died here and are buried in Valley Forge Park with unmarked 
graves. And yet, with all these discouragements, Washington here recruited and drilled 
his army, by aid of Baron von Steuben, to a high efficiency and to a strength of 14,000 
invincible men. 

There were a number of troops there from New Jersey and some buried in those 
unmarked graves. It was from near here Washington marched to Trenton and van- 
quished the Hessians, marking the roads and snow-covered fields with the blood from 
the feet of shoeless soldiers. As the site occupied by the troops from New Jersey, then 
one of the Colonies, has never been marked, Brother Fort moved that a committee of 
three from Camden Lodge of Elks be appointed to solicit, b\' letter, the aid of every 
Elks' Lodge in New Jersey, requesting the Senator and Representative from the county 
in which the Lodge is situated to vote for the enactment of a law providing for the 
appointment of a Commission by the Legislature to obtain all data necessary to locate 
the site and obtain permission to erect a granite marker and suitable stones to com- 
memorate the memory of the officers and men who heroically represented New Jersey 
in the great sufferings and hei'oic acts performed by them at Valley Forge. The idea 
is also to have the act carry with it an appropriation of not less than $5,000 to cover 
the expense of the marker and other small granite posts needed to fix the boundary. 

LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 

A bill for the creation of a Commission of five to erect a monument at Valley 
Forge, Pennsylvania, was drawn bv John H. Fort and introduced by Assemblyman 

66 



Albert DeUnger, of Camden, at the session of 1912, and passed the House unanimously. 
It was taken up in the Senate by Senator William T. Read, of Camden, and on his 
request Senator Isaac T. Nichols, of Cumberland, advocated it in a patriotic speech. 
It passed the Senate unanimously. Mr. Fort then went before the Committee on Appro- 
priations, on request of Senator Nichols, and spoke for the appropriation of $5,000, and 
in ten minutes after his remarks the committee unanimously incorporated an appro- 
priation of $5,000 in the general appropriation bill. Governor Wilson signed the bill, 
and upon numerous recommendations Mr. Fort was designated chairman of the Com- 
mission, and on its first meeting was unanimously elected president. 

From this fact, and that he lives nearer Valley Forge than the other Commis- 
sioners, the most of the work has fallen upon him, and for the last eighteen months 
he has been untiring in his efforts to get every detail in shape for the successful con- 
summation of the affair. 

The Commissioners are John Henry Fort, Camden; James L. Pennypacker, Had- 
donfield ; A. J. Demarest, Hoboken ; General J. Madison Drake, Elizabeth; David P. 
Mulford, Bridgeton. The Commission was appointed by President Wilson, then Gover- 
nor of New Jersey, on May 6th, 1912. 

The last Legislature appropriated $1,800 for the expenses of the unveiling and 
dedication; nearly $800 of this goes for military display and the grand stand. Print- 
ing, automobiles, decorations and incidental expenses use up the balance. 

The monument was designed by Mr. Scott M. Long, of the O. J. Hammell Co., 
Pleasantville, N. J., the contractors. It is of Barre granite, 10 feet at base and 27 feet 
in height. It is surmounted by a Continental soldier in bronze, of some 3,000 pounds 
weight, and 8 feet in height. The tablet bears the inscription: 

Erected by the State of New Jersey 
Upon the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade, 
Infantry Line, Continental Army. 
Brigadier General Wm. Maxwell. 
First Reg., Col. Mathias Ogden. 
Second Reg., Col. Israel Shreve. 
Third Reg., Col. Elias Dayton. 
Fourth Reg., Col. Ephraim Martin. 
December 19, 1777-June 18, 1778. 
The monument cost $5,000, the minimum and maximum allowed by the Valley 
Forge Park Commission of Pennsylvania, which is appointed by an act of the Pennsyl- 
vania Legislature, and determines every question concerning Valley Forge affairs. 



THE PHILADELPHIA "INQUIRER" 



JERSEY TO HONOR HER CONTINENTALS. 



Shaft to be Unveiled To-d.\y at Valley Forge Where Soldiers Suffered. 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S DAUGHTER TO UNCOVER SHAFT— PROMINENT 
MEN TO TAKE PART. 



Valley Forge, Pa., June 17. — The unveiling and dedication to-morrow of the monu- 
ment erected upon the site at Valley Forge occupied by the New Jersey Brigade, In- 
fantry Line, in the Continental Army, during the winter of 1777-1778, promises to be 
an impressive affair. 

67 



The monument is a tall shaft of granite on a broad base, which bears the bronze 
memorial tablet with the bronze coat-of-arms of New Jersey above. A grand stand 
has been erected to accommodate fifteen hundred persons. A special train will leave 
the Reading Terminal at one o'clock. 

At the dedication ceremonies the Governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and 
their staffs will be seated among the honored guests, including legislators. The monu- 
ment will be presented to Governor James F. Fielder, of New Jersey, by John Henry 
Fort, president of the Encampment Commission, and unveiled by Miss Margaret Wil- 
son, daughter of the President of the United States. It was officially announced to-day 
that President Wilson would not be able to attend. 

The oration will be delivered by Dr. Demarest, president of Rutgers College, of 
New Brunswick, N. J., and there will be an abundance of military display and music 
at suitable intervals. This formation and program will be carried out: 

Assembling at Washington's Headquarters and march to monument; Third Regi- 
ment Band; Battalion of Third Regiment, National Guard, N. J.; Division Naval 
Reserve, N. J.; Valley Forge Park Commission; Valley Forge Revolutionary Encamp- 
ment Commission ; Governors James F. Fielder and John K. Tener, orator and guests ; 
United States Senators and Congressmen, State Senators and Representatives of Legis- 
lature; State officials, civic organizations and citizens; salute to the Governor by Bat- 
tery B, N. G. of N. J. ; invocation. Rev. Otis A. Glazebrook, of Elizabeth, N. J. ; music 
by Third Regiment Band, Joseph Bossle, Sr., chief musician ; doxology by band and 
audience; presentation of monument to the Governor of New Jersey by John Henry 
Fort, president of Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission; unveiling of 
monument by Miss Margaret Wilson; salute to original States, 13 guns; music, "Hail 
New Jersey" ; acceptance of monument by the Governor of New Jersey and presenta- 
tion to the Governor of Pennsylvania ; acceptance of the monument by the Governor 
of Pennsylvania and formal delivery to the Valley Forge Park Commission; accept- 
ance of monument by William H. Sayen, president of the Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission of Pennsylvania; music, "Spirit of '76"; oration. Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, presi- 
dent of Rutgers College; music, "Songs of the Nation"; voluntary, by band, "A Tribute 
to Friend and Foe" ; benediction. 



PHILADELPHIA "NORTH AMERICAN 



JERSEY UNVEILS MONUMENT AT VALLEY FORGE. 



Shaft is Unveiled to Continental Troops. 



GOVERNOR FIELDER MAKES DEDICATORY ADDRESS AT VALLEY 

FORGE TO-DAY. 



Miss Wilson to Attend. 



Trenton, N. J., June 17. 
New Jersey's part in the army of General Washington at Valley Forge, in 1777 
and 1778, will be perpetuated in granite on the Valley Forge Encampment grounds 
to-morrow afternoon, when Governor James F. Fielder and a large representation of 
the militia of the State will formally unveil and dedicate granite markers and a shaft 
on the lands occupied by the New Jersey Revolutionary troops during the stay of Wash- 
ington's army at Vallev Forge. 

68 



The State Legislature of 1912 passed an act providing authority for the erection 
of the shaft and markers, and made an appropriation of $5,000 for this purpose. 

Immediately upon the arrival of Governor Fielder and his escort at Valley Forge 
the dedication exercises will take place. Governor Fielder will make the dedicatory 
address after the monument and markers have been formally turned over to the State 
Government by the president of the Commission, John H. Fort, of Camden. The other 
members of the Commission charged with erection of the memorials are David P. 
Mulford, of Bridgeton; General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth; Joseph L. Penny- 
packer, of Haddonfield, and A. J. Demarest, of Jersey City. This Commission was 
named by Governor Wilson. 

The escort of Governor Fielder will be made up of his personal military staff, 
the First Battalion of the Third Regiment of the National Guard and a platoon of the 
Camden Naval Reserve. The entire representation of troops of the State will number 
about 400 men and officers. 



CAMDEN "ARGUS" 



HONOR MEMORY OF JERSEY PATRIOTS. 



Camden Lodge of Elks Lay Corner-stone of Monument at Valley Forge. 



BEAUTIFUL SHAFT FOR REVOLUTIONARY HEROES. 



The site of the Encampment of Brigadier General Maxwell's Brigade of four New 
Jersey Regiments at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777 and 1778 was officially 
marked, Tuesday, when Camden Lodge of Elks laid the corner-stone for a monument 
which will be erected at Valley Forge as a memorial to the patriotism of the New 
Jersey patriots. John H. Fort, Past Exalted Ruler of Camden Lodge, presided at the 
exercises. It was he who was the instigator of the movement which resulted in Gov- 
ernor Wilson appointing a Commission which co-operated with Camden Lodge in the 
selection of a site and of plans for the monument, which will be ready for unveiling 
upon next Evacuation Day, June 20. 

Exalted Ruler Morris Odell, assisted by the officers of the Lodge, performed the 
ritualistic work. The Elks' tribute to the flag was ably delivered by Past Exalted 
Ruler James H. Long, and short addresses were made by Past Exalted Ruler John H. 
Fort, chairman of the Commission, and Senators Isaac T. Nichols and William T. 
Read, both of whom were largely responsible for the passage of the bill authorizing 
the erection of the monument. 

In the corner-stone were placed the following articles: Copies of the Camden 
Argus and other Camden and Philadelphia papers containing reports bearing upon the 
monument; ritual of Camden Lodge; latest annual report of Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission ; photograph of Governor Wilson ; photograph of the monument ; the memor- 
able Elks' tribute to the flag; blue-prints of the monument; copy of the memorable Val- 
ley Forge address of Henry Armitt Brown. 

The exercises drew 200 men and women, most of them coming by special train 
from Philadelphia and representing all parts of New Jersey, but mostly Camden. Rep- 
resentatives were present also from Norristown, Pottstown, Phoenixville and West Ches- 
ter Lodges of Elks. These latter came in automobiles. 

The memorial, when completed, will be 35 feet high and 10 feet across the base 
and surmounted bv a heroic bronze figure of a Continental soldier at picket duty. 

69 



NEWARK "EVENING NEWS" 



STONE LAID AT VALLEY FORGE. 



Camden: Elks Place Memorl^l to Jersey Troops Camped With Washington". 



SHAFT UNVEILED JUNE i8. 



Valley Forge, Pa., Nov. 12. — With ceremonies conducted by the Camden, N. J., 
Lodge of Elks, the corner-stone for the monument to be erected in memory of the New 
Jersey troops who figured in the camp at Valley Forge, under General Washington, 
was laid here this afternoon. Elks from other cities of New Jersey also participated, 
together with delegations from other organizations. 

John Henry Fort, Past Exalted Ruler of the Camden Elks, is chairman of the 
Monument Commission appointed by Governor Wilson. The other members are A. R. 
Demarest, of Hoboken ; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield ; General J. Madison 
Drake, of Elizabeth, and David P. Mulford, of Bridgeton. 

Members of the Commission assembled at Philadelphia at 12.30 o'clock to-day and 
started for the monument site on a special train which bore the delegations from New 
Jersey. 

The monument will be dedicated June 18, with General Drake in charge of the 
ceremonies. Governor Wilson probably will be present, and Miss Margaret Wilson, 
daughter of the President-elect, will unveil the shaft. 

The site for the monument is beside a long drive overlooking the Schujlkill River 
and commanding an extensive view of Mount Joy. 

The shaft will be twenty-seven feet high and ten feet six inches square at the base. 
A statue will surmount it. The total cost will be $5,000, for which appropriation was 
made by the New Jersey General Assembly. 

Mr. Fort is credited with starting the movement for the memorial. About a year 
ago he happened to visit Valley Forge and found that New Jersey's soldiers had no 
representation there. At his suggestion the Camden Elks took up the matter and secured 
the passage of the appropriation. 



PHILADELPHIA "EVENING BULLETIN" 



MARK JERSEY SITE AT VALLEY FORGE. 



Corner-stone of Monument Suggested by Elks Laid With Exercises of Order. 



FOURTH STATE SHAFT. 



Will be 35 Feet High and Surmounted by Colonial Soldier Statue on Picket. 



Valley Forge, Pa., Nov. 12. — The site of the Encampment of Brigadier General 
Maxwell's Brigade of four New Jersey Regiments during the Valley Forge Encamp- 
ment of the Colonial Army, under General Washington, during the winter of 1777 and 

70 



1778, was officially marked to-day, when Camden Lodge of Elks laid the corner-stone 
for a monument which will be erected as a memorial to the patriotism of the New 
Jersey patriots. 

Most fittingly John H. Fort, Past Exalted Ruler of Camden Lodge, presided at the 
exercises, for it was he who was the instigator of the movement which resulted in 
Governor Wilson appointing a commission to co-operate with Camden Lodge in the 
selection of a site and of plans for the monument, which will be reared on the scene 
of to-day's ceremonies, and will be ready for unveiling upon next Evacuation Day, 
June 20. 

LODGE OF SORROW STARTED IT. 

Past Exalted Ruler Fort, last December, was the orator at the annual Lodge of Sor- 
row of Norristown Lodge. The next day J. P. Hale Jenkins, a Past Exalted Ruler of the 
local organization and a member of the Valley Forge Park Commission, took Mr. Fort to 
see the Valley Forge camp grounds. Mr. Fort was shown where the Jersey troops were 
encamped, and was surprised when informed that there was no State monument — only 
a granite marker erected by the State of Pennsylvania through the Park Commission, 
has been put up for all of the 13 original States. Mr. Fort resolved to remedy 
the glaring defect, and through the medium of the Elks he brought about the project 
for a monument, which showed the first steps of realization in the laymg of the corner- 
stone to-day. 

On the speakers' stand to-day with Ruler Fort were the four other members of 
the Monument Commission appointed by Governor Wilson: James L. Pennypacker, 
A. J. Demarest, General J. Madison Drake and David P. Mulford. Present, too, were 
State Senator William T. Read, of Camden, and State Senator Isaac T. Nichols, of 
Cumberland county, who were active in having passed through the New Jersey Legis- 
lature the appropriation for $5,000 toward the monument. 

In his opening address. Chairman Fort gave a brief history of the monument 
project and of the Revolutionary camp ground, declaring that but three other States of 
the thirteen original States have erected monuments on the hallowed ground — Maine, 
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. After ritualistic service, conducted by the Exalted 
Ruler of Camden Lodge, a quartette from the Jersey Lodge sang a hymn of blessing. 
The quartette also sang patriotic hymns during the exercises. 

TWO HUNDRED ATTEND EXERCISES. 

In the corner-stone were placed the following articles: Copies of Camden and 
Philadelphia papers containing reports bearing upon the monument; ritual of Camden 
Lodge; latest annual report of Valley Forge Park Commission; photograph of Gover- 
nor Wilson; photograph of the monument; the memorable Elks' tribute to the flag; 
blue-prints of the monument; copy of the memorable Valley Forge address of Heniy 
Armitt Brown. 

The exercises drew 200 men and women, most of them coming by special train 
from Philadelphia, and representing all parts of New Jersey, but mostly Camden. Rep- 
resentatives were present also from Norristown, Pottstown, Phoenixville and West 
Chester Lodges of Elks. These latter came in automobiles. 

The Park Commission was represented by Colonel Samuel S. Hartranft, who is 
superintendent of the park. The party had its picture taken in front of Washington's 
Headquarters before the exercises. 

The memorial, when completed, will be 35 feet high and ii feet across the base 
and surmounted by a heroic bronze figure of a Colonial soldier at picket duty. 

71 



PHILADELPHIA "EVENING TELEGRAPH' 



TO UNVEIL JERSEY'S VALLEY FORGE SHAFT. 



President's Daughter Will Perform Ceremony at Patriotic Exercises on June i8. 



MILITIA TO PARTICIPATE. 



The Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of New Jersey has 
about completed arrangements for the dedication and unveiling of the monument on 
the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army, at Val- 
ley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777-1778, on Wednesday afternoon, June i8. 

Adjutant General Wilbur F. Sadler has designated as a guard of honor a battalion 
of four companies from the Third Regiment, a band of forty pieces, a division of 
fifty men from the Naval Reserve and a two-gun battery from Battery B, of Cam- 
den, with a platoon of forty men for firing salutes. The troops will leave •Camden at 
12 o'clock, on the i8th of June, and proceed to the Reading Terminal, Philadelphia, 
where a special train will convey them to Valley Forge station. The battery will leave 
in the morning to get there in time to place their guns and thirty-two horses in position. 

The Commission will send out 5,000 invitations to all parts of the State, and ex- 
pect representatives from the Senate and Assembly and all the State departments. In- 
vitations generally will be extended to all fraternal and patriotic orders to attend in 
a body or individually, as they desire. 

The Commission visited President Wilson and has received a letter from him ex- 
pressing his great regret that he cannot promise to attend, and stating that his daughter, 
Miss Margaret Wilson, has accepted an invitation to unveil the monument. 

The ceremonies of dedication and unveiling will be under the direction of the 
Commission, and are as follows: 

The military and lodges and visitors will form in procession at the new Reading 
station at Valley Forge, opposite Washington's Headquarters, and with the Governor 
of New Jersey, James F. Fielder, and his staff, proceed to the site of the monument. 
On arrival the battery will fire a salute of fourteen guns in honor of the Governor. 
The State officials, Commission of New Jersey and the Valley Forge Park Commission 
of Pennsylvania, State officials and Senators and Assemblymen and as many invited 
guests as possible will occupy the stand erected opposite the monument. 

A musical program has been arranged by Professor Joseph Bossle, Sr., leader of the 
Third Regiment Band. 

PRESENTED TO PENNSYLVANIA. 

After an invocation and music, John Henry Fort, president of the New Jersey 
Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, will present the monument to the 
Governor of New Jersey, and then Miss Wilson will release the covering that veils it, 
and amid a salute of thirteen guns from the battery the monument will stand out in all 
its beauty. Governor Fielder will accept it from the New Jersey Commission and pre- 
sent it to the Governor of Pennsylvania or his representative, who will then formally 
turn it over from the State of New Jersey to the Valley Forge Park Commission of 
Pennsylvania, which will thereafter take care of the monument. 

The monument is of Barre granite and is a handsome piece of monumental work. 
It is 27 feet high and surmounted by a bronze figure of a Continental soldier, in the 
uniform of that period, showing service, in position of a picket or guard. It is heroic 
in size, and was made b}' the John Williams, Inc., Bronze Foundry, of New York, that 
casts most of the Government bronzes. 



CAMDEN " POST-TELEGRAM 



JERSEY'S MONUMENT AT VALLEY FORGE. 



President Wilson's Daughter to Unveil Memorial to Revolutionary Heroes. 



FIVE THOUSAND INVITATIONS TO BE EXTENDED. 



The Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of New Jersey has 
about completed arrangements for the dedication and unveiling of the monument on the 
site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army, at Val- 
ley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777-1778, on Wednesday afternoon, June 18. 

Adjutant General Wilbur F. Sadler has designated as a guard of honor a battalion 
of four companies from the Third Regiment, a band of forty pieces, a division of 
fifty men from the Naval Reserve and a two-gun battery from Battery B, of Cam- 
den, with a platoon of forty men for firing salutes. The troops will leave Camden at 
12 o'clock, on the i8th of June, and proceed to the Reading Terminal, Philadelphia, 
where a special train will convey them to Valley Forge station. The batttry will leave 
in the morning to get there in time to place their guns and thirty-two hordes in position. 

The Commission will send out 5,000 invitations to all parts of the State, and ex- 
pect representatives from the Senate and Assembly and all the State departments. In- 
vitations generally will be extended to all fraternal and patriotic orders to attend in 
a body, or individually, as they desire. 

The Commission visited President Wilson, and has received a lettei from him ex- 
pressing his great regret that he cannot promise to attend, and stating that his daugh- 
ter, Miss Margaret Wilson, has accepted an invitation to be present and unveil the 
monument. 

The ceremonies of dedication and unveiling will be under the direction of the 
Commission, and are as follows: 

The military and lodges and visitors will form in procession at the new Reading 
station at Valley Forge, opposite Washington's Headquarters, and with the Governor 
of New Jersey, James F. Fielder, and his staff, proceed to the site of the monument. 
On arrival the battery will fire a salute of fourteen guns in honor of the Governor. 
The State officials. Commission of New Jersey and the Valley Forge Park Commission 
of Pennsylvania, State officials and Senators and Assemblymen and as many invited 
guests as possible will occupy the stand erected opposite the monument. 

A fine musical program has been arranged by Professor Joseph Bossle, Sr., leader 
of the Third Regiment Band. 

After an invocation and music, John Henry Fort, president of the New Jersey 
Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, will present the monument to the 
Governor of New Jersey, and then Miss Wilson will release the covering that veils 
it, and amid a salute of thirteen guns from the battery, the monument will stand out 
in all its beauty. Governor Fielder will accept it from the New Jersey Commission 
and present it to the Governor of Pennsylvania, or his representative, who will then 
formally turn it over from the State of New Jersey to the Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission of Pennsylvania; which will thereafter take care of the monument and its 
maintenance. 

The monument is of Barre granite and is a handsome piece of monumental work. 
It is 27 feet high and surmounted by a bronze figure of a Continental soldier, in the 
uniform of that period, showing service, in position of a picket on guard. It is heroic 
in size, and was made by the John Williams, Inc., Bronze Foundry, of New York, 
that casts most of the Government bronzes. 

73 



The Commission has labored hard to make the affair a success, and Mr. Fort, the 
president, has for the last eighteen months given almost all his time and attention to 
the affair. 

From present indications there will be a large crowd present. Arrangements have 
been made for a special train over the Reading road from its terminal, Philadelphia, 
which will leave at i\ P. M., on the day fixed, and return from Valley Forge at 5 
P. M., affording an opportunity to witness and participate in the ceremonies of the 
unveiling and dedication of the monument and visiting the sights of Valley Forge, so 
long historic in Revolutionary annals. 

The Commission desires to extend a general invitation to every citizen of New- 
Jersey, and hopes to have a large representation present to show their appreciation of 
the heroes who fought and died for the establishment of a great Nation. 

The fare for the round trip will not exceed 75 cents. 

Secretary of War Lindley M. Garrison, of New Jersey, has signified his intention 
of being present, if possible, as well as our Congressmen from New Jersey. It will 
be a memorable day in the observations of Valley Forge. 



ATLANTIC CITY "REVIEW" 



VALLEY FORGE MONUMENT TO BE UNVEILED BY MISS WILSON. 



The above is a photograph of the New Jersey monument nearing completion at 
Valley Forge Park, Pennsylvania. The bronze statue, panels and lettered parts of the 
monument are covered to prevent photographers taking pictures before the day of un- 
veiling, on June 18. 

This monument marks the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, 
Continental Army, during the severe winter of 1777-1778, under General Washington. 
It will be remembered that there were only thirteen States during this war, most of 
which were represented by troops at Valley Forge. Each of these States is permitted 
to erect a monument, not to cost more than $5,000, on the site its troops occupied dur- 
ing the struggle between Great Britain and her Colonies for independence. To this 
army New Jersey sent the greatest forces, over five thousand brave patriots. 

It is only fitting and proper that this spot, where so many from our native State 
suffered and succumbed to death by starvation and disease, should be marked by a 
lasting memorial. In view of this fact, the Legislature of New Jersey passed, in 1912, 
a bill appropriating $5,000 for the purpose of erecting a monument there. Governor 
Wilson, now President of the United States, signed the bill and appointed the follow- 
ing Commissioners: Hon. John H. Fort, of Camden; James S. Pennypacker, of Had- 
donfield; A. J. Demarest, of Hoboken ; General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and 
David P. Mulford, of Bridgeton. 

The Commission is making elaborate preparations for the unveiling ceremonies. 
Some of the finest orators in the country have been secured, and President Wilson's 
daughter. Miss Jessie Wilson, will unveil the monument. About five thousand invita- 
tions are being sent to prominent people throughout the State, and the general public 
is also invited to attend. It is expected there will be 10,000 people present. The cere- 
monies will commence at 2 P. M. sharp. A special train will leave the Reading 
Terminal, Twelfth and Market streets, Philadelphia, at 1 P. M., and return from 
Valley Forge at 5 P. M. Many people have expressed their intention of going in 
automobiles. The distance from Atlantic City is 80 miles. It is a beautiful trip, which 
takes one through Fairmount Park and out Lancaster Pike to Valley Forge, which is 
one of the finest public parks in the country. 

74 



The monument was designed by Mr. Scott M. Long, who is associated with the 
O. J. Hanjmell Company, of Pleasantville. Mr. Long's design was successful over 
many competitors from leading firms in \ew York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New 
Jersey and elsewhere, and reflects much credit on him as a designer and the company 
he represeuts who contracted for this work and erected it, and every detail has been 
carefully carried out. It is of Barre granite and standard bronze, and stands an artistic 
and appropriate memorial to the cause. Every patriot of New Jersey should endeavor 
to be present at the unveiling. 



CAMDEN "DAILY COURIER' 



CAMDEN LODGE OF ELKS WILL LAY CORNER-STONE FOR BIG 

MONUMENT. 



Expect Big Crowd at ^' alley Forge. 



IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIES WILL BE CONDUCTED BY LOCAL ELKS ON 

TUESDAY. 



Marks New Jersey Brigade Camp. 



The Camden Order of Elks are busily making preparations for their trip to Val- 
ley Forge, on Tuesday next, to participate in the laying of a corner-stone for a monu- 
ment to occupy the site where the New Jersey Brigade, commanded by Brigadier 
General William Maxwell, who commanded four regiments, camped at Valley Forge 
in 1777-1778. 

The monument is of Barre granite and cost $5,000. The erecting is to be under 
the supervision of a Commission appointed by Governor Woodrow Wilson. 

In consideration of the support given by the Order of Elks in New Jersey in ob- 
taining the law, and especially Camden Lodge, the Commission has invited that Lodge 
to lay the corner-stone of the monument, and the Lodge has accepted the honor. No- 
vember 12 is the date. A special committee has been appointed to arrange details, and 
this committee has secured a special train to leave at 12.30 from the Reading Terminal, 
Philadelphia. The tickets for the round trip will be $i.oo, and the train will return 
about 5.20 o'clock and reach Philadelphia by supper time. 

A brass band will accompany the Lodge, and the Grand Exalted Ruler of the 
Grand Lodge of the United States of America has granted a special dispensation for 
Camden Lodge to do the work. The ritual for the occasion will be a very interesting 
one, and a fine quartette will perform the musical features. Camden Lodge expects to 
have 200 or more members in line, and many of them will be accompanied by their 
wives, daughters or lady friends. 

While the ceremonies and the special train are under the auspices of Camden 
Lodge, any person can obtain a ticket at the same price from the committee of arrange- 
ments. Senator Read, Senator Nichols and Assemblyman DeUnger have been especially 
invited for their kind attention and services in obtaining the passage of the bill in the 
Legislature. 

All the data for the box to go in the corner-stone is at hand, and Martin J. Frand, 
a member of Camden Lodge, has donated a copper box, 8 inches wide and 10 long 
by 6 in height, to receive the documents. Everything in connection with the history 
of the monument will be deposited therein and will be placed under the corner of the 

75 



huge monument. Responses from the members are coming in by every mail, and they 
intend to show their appreciation of the honor as well as to show that the Order of 
Elks is a patriotic one. The tickets are now in the hands of the committee for sale. 

Every Lodge of Elks in New Jersey will be invited to have a delegation, and the 
general public are as welcome as the members of the Order. As the train is a special 
one, tickets can only be obtained from the committee, and even on the day at the 
train gate from them only. 

The dedication of the monument will not take place till early next year, and the 
Commission will have charge of it, and intend to make it an event that will gladden 
the hearts of every Jerseyman. The corner-stone laying will, however, be an attrac- 
tive affair, and as the leaves are nearly off of the trees a fine opportunity will be 
afforded to obtain a landscape view of the grand old Valley Forge Camping Grounds 
and to see the earthworks of old forts, mounted batteries, Washington's Headquarters 
and the graves of the 3,500 unknown dead and huts and hospitals occupied by the 
brave and noble men who founded our Nation. 

Tickets can be obtained from John H. Fort, chairman ; A. J. Milliette, secretary ; 
George Fisher, treasurer; Frank Gardner, William Davis, Ralph D. Childrey, Wil- 
liam C. Davis, R. A. Outwater, Howard L. Miller, Thomas J. Berkstresser and Wal- 
ter Magonigle. 



THE PHILADELPHIA "INQUIRER" 



JERSEY TO HONOR HER CONTINENTALS. 



Shaft to be Unveiled To-day at Valley Forge, Where Soldiers Suffered. 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S DAUGHTER TO UNCOVER SHAFT— PROMINENT 
MEN TO TAKE PART. 



Valley Forge, Pa., June 17. — The unveiling and dedication to-morrow of the monu- 
ment erected upon the site at Valley Forge occupied by the New Jersey Brigade, In- 
fantry Line, in the Continental Army, during the winter of 1777-1778, promises to be 
an impressive affair. 

The monument is a tall shaft of granite on a broad base, which bears the bronze 
memorial tablet with the bronze coat-of-arms of New Jersey above. A grand stand 
has been erected to accommodate fifteen hundred persons. A special train will leave 
the Reading Terminal at one o'clock. 

At the dedication ceremon}' the Governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and 
their staffs will be seated among the honored guests, including legislators. The monu- 
ment will be presented to Governor James F. Fielder, of New Jersey, by John Henry 
Fort, president of the Encampment Commission, and unveiled by Miss Margaret Wil- 
son, daughter of the President of the United States. It was officially announced to-day 
that President Wilson would not be able to attend. 

The oration will be delivered by Dr. Demarest, president of Rutgers College, of 
New Brunswick, N. J., and there will be an abundance of military display and music 
at suitable intervals. This formation and program will be carried out: 

Assembling at Washington's Headquarters and march to monument; Third Regi- 
ment Band; Battalion of Third Regiment, National Guard, N. J.; Division Naval 
Reserve, N. J.; Valley Forge Park Commission; Valley Forge Revolutionary Encamp- 
ment Commission ; Governors James F. Fielder and John K. Tener, orator and guests ; 
United States Senators and Congressmen, State Senators and Representatives of Legis- 

7G 



lature; State officials, civic organizations and citizens; salute to the Governor by Bat- 
tery B, N. G. of N. J.; invocation, Rev. Otis A. Glazebrook, of Elizabeth, N. J.; music 
by Third Regiment Band, Joseph Bossle, St., chief musician; doxolog>' by band and 
audience; presentation of monument to the Governor of New Jersey by John Henry 
Fort, president of Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission; unveiling of 
monument by Miss Margaret Wilson; salute to original States, 13 guns; music, "Hail 
New Jersey" ; acceptance of monument by the Governor of New Jersey and presenta- 
tion to the Governor of Pennsylvania; acceptance of the monument by the Governor 
of Pennsylvania and formal delivery to the Valley Forge Park Commission; accept- 
ance of monument by William H. Sayen, president of the Valley Forge Park Commis- 
sion of Pennsylvania; music, "Spirit of '76"; oration. Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president 
of Rutgers College; music, "Songs of the Nation"; voluntary by band, "A Tribute to 
Friend and Foe" ; benediction. 



PHILADELPHIA "PUBLIC LEDGER" 



NEW JERSEY TO PAY HONOR TO PATRIOTS. 



Valley Forge Revolutionary Commission Will Unveil Memorial on Historic Site. 



TRIBUTE OF THE STATE. 



Members of the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of New Jer- 
sey have completed all the arrangements for the unveiling and dedication of the monu- 
ment erected upon the site occupied by the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, Con- 
tinental Army, at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777-1778, which will take place Wed- 
nesday afternoon. Adjutant General Wilbur F. Sadler has designated as a guard of 
honor a battalion of four companies from the Third Regiment, National Guard; 
the Third Regiment Band ; a division of fifty men from the Camden Battalion, Naval 
Reserve, and a two-gun batterj' from Battery B, Field Artillery, of Camden, with a 
platoon of forty men for firing salutes. The troops will leave Camden for Philadel- 
phia at noon and proceed to the Reading Terminal. The battery will leave early in 
the morning. 

The monument will be unveiled by Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of President 
Wilson, who will be accompanied by Miss Hagner. The program of ceremonies 
follows: 

The military and civic societies and visitors will form at the new Reading station 
at Valley Forge, and with Governor Fielder and staff will proceed to the monument 
site. On arrival, the battery will fire a salute in honor of the Governor. The State 
officials. Commission of New Jersey and the Valley Forge Park Commission of Penn- 
sylvania, New Jersey State Senators and members of the House of Assembly and guests 
will occupy the grand stand opposite the monument. After the invocation by the Rev. 
Otis J. Glazebrook, of Elizabeth, John Henry Fort, the president of the New Jersey 
Commission, will present the monument to Governor Fielder, and then Miss Wilson 
will release the covering that veils it amid a salute of thirteen guns from the battery. 
Governor Fielder will accept the monument, and will present it. Ex-Governor Penny- 
packer probably will accept it as the representative of Governor Tener, who announces 
that he will be unable to be present, and it will then be formally turned over to the 
Valley Forge Park Commission. The orator will be Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president 
of Rutgers College. 

77 



The monument is of Barre granite. It is 27 feet high and surmounted by a bronze 
figure of a Continental soldier, in the uniform of that period. It is heroic in size, and 
was made by the John Williams Bronze Foundry, of New York. The cost of the 
monument was $5,000. The monument was erected under the supervision of John 
Henry Fort, of Camden; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield; A. J. Demarest, of 
Hoboken; General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and David P. Mulford, of Bridge- 
ton, the Commission, who were appointed by the then Governor Wilson under a legis- 
lative act which was introduced at the request of Camden Lodge of Elks. 

Among the civic societies and officials expected to be present are the Sons of the 
Revolution, several Chapters of the Daughters of the Revolution, Sons of the American 
Revolution, State Historical Society, State Department Commander, G. A. R., John W. 
Bodine, of New Jersey, and staff; Camden, Philadelphia, Norristown and Trenton 
Lodges of Elks, Patriotic Order Sons of America and a delegation of Knights of Colum- 
bus from New Jersey. 



BRIDGETON "EVENING NEWS' 



POLITICAL CHAT. 



ODDS AND ENDS. 



By I. T. Nichols. 



The sun shone bright on the monument to New Jersey's Revolutionary dead in 
Valley Forge, last Thursday afternoon, as the cord which unloosed the flag disclosed 
the graceful outlines of the shaft which our State has erected to mark the field where 
General Maxwell's New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army, suffered 
privations untold during the fearful winter of 1777-1778. The story of General Wash- 
ington and his little army at Valley Forge cannot be too often told, for it is a patriotic 
story unparalleled in the history of nations. 

On the 19th of December, 1777, Washington had finished his retreat from Phila- 
delphia, then in the possession of the British troops under General Howe. The Revolu- 
tionary cause had reached the lowest ebb. Everything was against the Continentals 
and hope of final victory was well nigh dead. The Continental Army was reduced to 
eight thousand men when headquarters were located in the valley. Without clothing 
or provisions, the heroic remnant of many campaigns faced the wintry blasts with a 
consecrated patriotism. In Philadelphia, not far away, the British held high revelry, 
aided and abetted by the Tory Americans who had harassed General Washington at 
every turn of the way. During the winter thirty-four hundred soldiers died of dis- 
ease, cold and starvation. Among the number perhaps one-third of them were from New 
Jersey, for the Continental Army in that distressed hour was largely composed of the 
young farmer boys from Middle and West Jersey. Death made great inroads on the 
Jersey line, but with each comrade's burial the survivors renewed their vows to their 
country, suffering on in silence without complaint. 

For one hundred and thirty-five years the bones of the Jerseymen who passed away 
at Valley Forge have remained unmarked. Other States had marked the graves of 
those who had here paid their full measure of devotion, but the Jersey Blues had no 
remembrance. To the credit of John H. Fort, of Camden, be it said, that he alone 
wrought out a plan for the marking of the site where our Continental dead had so 
long lain unnumbered and unmarked. During a visit to Valley Forge, Mr. Fort, who 
is a patriotic gentleman, loving his country and proud of the glorious record of his 

78 



Jersey ancestry, conceived the idea of the monument. Accordingly, in 1911, he enlisted 
the co-operation of the Order of Elks, in which he has long been a prominent figure, 
and immediately effort was made by printed circular and other publicity to influence 
members of the Legislature for the passage of a bill to appropriate sufficient money 
to give the State of New Jersey a proper marker in memory of the men who had given 
their lives that the Nation might live. The Legislature responded to the call and gave 
the sum of five thousand dollars for the erection of an appropriate memorial, together 
with eighteen hundred dollars for dedication expenditures. 

The completed monument stands on a knoll on one of the leading avenues of the 
Valley Forge Park, the Continental soldier in bronze at its apex facing Jersej-ward. 
The figure is commanding, symmetrical and of beautiful proportions; a credit to the 
State and the Commission who had its preparation in charge. Valley Forge is an 
American Mecca and ever will be. Located in one of the most beautiful sections of 
Pennsylvania, a half hour's journej- by the Reading Railroad from Philadelphia, it is a 
picturesque region of hills, valleys and farm lands, with the broad expanse of the 
Schuylkill River disclosing itself like a silver thread for a long distance. 

Valley Forge was an impregnable position for Washington to occupy, its site being 
well selected for fortification. In the midst of this stronghold his little army of patriots 
was safe from attack, although Lords Clinton and Howe longed for opportunity. All 
through the winter thev watched and waited, but there was no sign from Valle\' Forge 
where the Continentals in their misery were making such efforts as thev could toward the 
rehabilitation of their depleted ranks. In the meantime Baron von Steuben, the famous 
German patriot, tired of the tyranny of the rulers of his own country, hastened to 
America, and offered his services to General Washington. He was a splendid drill 
master, one of the best in Europe. His services were accepted, and valuable services 
they were. By June 4, 1778, the Continental Army, notwithstanding its great losses, 
emerged in prime condition for a continuation of hostilities with the British. By 
diligent recruiting the army had augmented its ranks, so that it now numbered four- 
teen thousand men in prime condition, efficiently drilled and ready for battle. 

Under General Maxwell's command was a regiment from South Jersey, led by 
Colonel Silas Newcomb, of our own county. Did you know, reader, that the patriotic 
sons of Cumberland County bore an important part at Valley Forge, and in the famous 
engagements at Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth ? There was no section of New 
Jersey more loyal to the cause of their country in Revolutionary days, as later on there 
was no greater patriotism than that exhibited in the ranks of the thousand men who 
enlisted from Cumberland County to save the Nation in Civil War times. 

How beautiful was the day and how auspicious the hour at Valley Forge when 
the monument with the Continental soldier at its apex appeared to view. In vision 
we thought of Washington and Lafayette, and von Steuben and Maxwell, with Silas 
Newcomb and his boys in blue and buff from Cumberland. In phantom lines they 
were marching before us, eyes to the right, heads erect, gun barrels bright, three-cor- 
nered hats, typical soldiers of the early days on whose shoulders rested the fate of the 
new Nation. The Lord was with them as they came forth in sunny June to take up 
the gauge of contest with a foreign foe. 

How different the June of 1913. Peace reigned — the landscape 'round about was 
like a picture set in silver — the skies were blue, the roadways broad. No blur on the 
scene. A daughter of the President of the United States' pulled the string which un- 
veiled the granite and its patriotic figure ; the band of sixty pieces let go a medley of 
"The Star Spangled Banner," "America," and "Yankee Doodle" ; the artillery thun- 
dered a Continental salute ; the regiment of youthful soldiery from the ranks of our 
State Militia presented arms with martial precision. The act was complete, patriotic, 
solemn, perfect in every detail. 

79 



New Jersey has done well at Valley Forge, as she always does in every depart- 
ment of human endeavor. To the Commission, which consisted of John H. Fort, A. 
J. Demarest, James L. Pennypacker, General J. Madison Drake, and our townsman, 
David P. Mulford, and to the members of the Legislature who so earnestly aided the 
project, a debt of gratitude is due for the successful placing of the Valley Forge 
Memorial on the historic field. 



THE NORRISTOWN "TIMES" 



PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER UNVEILS JERSEY SHAFT AT VALLEY FORGE. 



Miss Eleanor Wilson^ Instead of Miss Margaret, has the Honor; Ex-Governor 

Pennypacker Acts for Governor Tener; Great Throng Witnesses the 

Simple but Impressive Ceremonies; Addresses, Brief and Inspiring, 

Marked With Reference to Valor of the Troops Who" 

Camped at Historic Spot and Fought in Revolution; 

Miss Wilson Central Figure at Reception. 



New Jersey did itself great credit, yesterday, in the tribute which it paid to the 
heroism of the State's patriots in the Revolutionary Army, who suffered at Valley Forge 
during the memorable encampment in the winter of 1777-1778. There was unveiled 
a magnificent monument, with simple but impressive ceremonies, abounding as they 
did with praise for the valor of General Maxwell and his brigade. 

There were two slight changes from the original plans. The honors of the day 
were planned for Miss Margaret Wilson, one of the daughters of President Wilson, 
but she was unable to be present. 

In announcing this fact, Mr. Fort, as master of ceremonies, stated that the Presi- 
dent was at all times prepared for any emergency that might arise, as was well dem- 
onstrated in this instance, in that he was able to provide another daughter for the 
honors. Miss Eleanor Wilson, the youngest daughter of the Nation's Chief Executive, 
was then introduced. 

Governor John K. Tener and his official staff were to be present, the former to 
accept the memorial on the part of the Commonwealth and commit it to the custody of 
the Valley Forge Park Commission. Owing to the press of matters at the State Cap- 
ital, in connection with the last days of the Legislature, the Governor could not be 
on hand, and he designated former Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, of Schwenks- 
ville, to take up this part of the program. 

The day was ideal in every respect, about 5,000 persons being present. 

Erected by the State of New Jersey on the ground where the New Jersey con- 
tingent of Washington's Army spent the memorable winter of suffering in 1777 and 
1778, the monument represents the State's first contribution to that sacred ground. 

It was there that 1 1,000 patriots battled against the rigors of one of the severest 
winters ever known, and where 3,000 of them lie buried. 

A covering of red, white and blue silk hid the monument from 5,000 persons who 
had gathered to do honor to the noble dead of the Revolutionary period. Then Miss 
Wilson came to perform for the first time in a really serious capacity at a big State 
function. 

She pulled at the cords which bound the silk banners around the granite and 
bronze. They fluttered for a moment, then dropped to the ground, and New Jersey's 
offering to the memorial statues in historic Valley Forge became a fact. 

80 



The 5,000 persons cheered heartily, while a battery at the rear of the reviewing 
stand fired a salute of thirteen guns in honor of the thirteen original States. 

A boys* choir from St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, Camden, sang "Hail, 
New Jersey"; then the band of the Third New Jersey Regiment played "The Star 
Spangled Banner." Miss Wilson, in the meantime, ran back to her party to become a 
spectator of the scene rather than the main picture in the spectacle. 

As she was about to resume her seat she was presented with a large bouquet of 
American Beauty roses. All radiant with smiles, she said: "This is one of the hap- 
piest moments of my life. I shall always cherish the memory of this day, when to 
me was given the singular honor of unveiling a monument to the loyalty and heroism 
of those brave men from my State who suffered here that a Nation might be born. 
It is a fitting tribute, and I glory in the fact that I have been allowed so important a 
part in the exercises. The happiness of this daj' will always be associated with that 
of another day — the day I learned that father had been chosen the President of this 
great Republic." 

Yesterday was chosen for the ceremonies, because it was on June 18, 1778, that 
Washington's Army began its final preparation for the evacuation, this day, 135 years 
ago, of Valley Forge, after six months of the greatest hardships. It was also on June 
18, 1778, that Washington ordered the New- Jersey troops to proceed toward Phila- 
delphia, and harass and repulse, if possible, the British forces which were leaving that 
city after a long occupancy. 

To John Henry Fort, a lawyer of Camden, is given the chief credit for the move- 
ment which finally led to the unveiling of the great monument to Jersey's heroes in the 
war. 

On a visit to Valley Forge, Mr. Fort, while a guest of the Norristown Elks, ob- 
served that the ground occupied by the several thousand New Jersey patriots during 
the Revolution was unmarked. He inaugurated the plan to erect the monument; ob- 
tained the aid of President Wilson, then Governor of the State, and the Legislature 
finally indorsed the project and appropriated $5,000 to advance the work. 

The monument rests on a commanding site, is of Barre granite, ten feet square at 
the base and twent}--seven feet high. It is surmounted by a bronze figure of a Con- 
tinental soldier in the uniform of the Jersey brigade. The soldier is eight feet high 
and weighs 3,000 pounds. At the base a bronze plate bears the following inscription: 

"Situated in a central section of the park upon the site occupied by the New Jer- 
sey Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army; Brigadier General William Maxwell. 

"First Regiment, Colonel Mathias Ogden ; Second Regiment, Colonel Israel Shreve; 
Third Regiment, Colonel Elias Dayton; Fourth Regiment, Colonel Ephraim Martin. 

"December 19, 1777 — June 18, 1778." 

Two special trains of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway relieved the regular 
trains of the bulk of the traffic that was destined for Valley Forge. These trains left 
the Reading Terminal at one o'clock, and the second train carried the notables who 
were to participate in the ceremonies. 

Miss Wilson motored to the monument grounds as the guest of Mrs. James L. 
Pennypacker. The President's daughter was accompanied from Washington by Miss 
Isabelle Hagner, social secretary to the President's wife. 

The elaborate preliminary program arranged by the Monument Commission was 
carried on without a single mishap. A great procession started at Washington's Head- 
quarters and marched to the monument. The Third Regiment Band led the parade, 
followed by a battalion of the Third Regiment, New Jersey National Guard ; a bat- 
talion of the Naval Reserve, the Valley Forge Park Commission and the Valley Forge 
Revolutionary Encampment Commission. 

81 



The presence of the battalion of the Third Infantry was in itself significant, for 
it was the Third Regiment of New Jersey which camped on the very spot 133 years 
ago and to whom the day was dedicated. 

In the reviewing stand were Governor James F. Fielder, of New Jersey; Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Commissioner Pennypacker, who represented Governor Tener; Ad- 
jutant General William F. Sadler, of New Jersey; Bishop McFaul, of the Diocese 
of Trenton, and members of the Governor's staff. 

Miss Wilson and her attendants were seated at the right of the reviewing stand. 
Close by were Colonel William Libbey, of Princeton University; Colonel William G. 
Schauffler and Captain S. M. Dickinson, the latter a member of the Governor's staff. 

The ceremonies following the unveiling were quite simple. The presentation of 
the monument to the Governor of New Jersey was made by John Henry Fort. Gover- 
nor Fielder, in turn, accepted, and then presented it to former Governor Samuel W. 
Pennypacker, representing the Governor of Pennsylvania. 

The monument then was formally delivered to the Valley Forge Park Commission 
of Pennsylvania. William H. Sayen, president of the Commission, accepted it on behalf 
of that body. 

The oration of the day was delivered bj' Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president of 
Rutgers College, of New Brunswick. The Rev. J. W. Riddle, a Protestant clergyman, 
of Valley Forge, pronounced the invocation, while the benediction was said by Bishop 
McFaul. 

The sounding of "taps" put an end to the ceremonies. The President's daughter, 
who had shared honors with the memorial statue up to this time, suddenly became the 
sole attraction. 

A thousand or more women gathered around Miss Wilson, and New Jersey's dis- 
tinguished daughter found herself submerged in violent admiration. 

She made her way to a motor car, but not until she had shaken at least 500 out- 
stretched, eager feminine hands. 

All of the speakers dwelt particularly upon the great part in the Revolutionarj^ 
War played by the sons of New Jersey. Former Governor Pennypacker, who was in- 
troduced by Chairman Fort as the man of a patriotic family of Pennsylvania who dis- 
covered in a foreign country the plans of the original encampment at Valley Forge, 
and after which the present park was laid out, declared that there was a special bond 
of sympathy between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

He referred to the fact that before there was any real New England, there was 
a sort of federation between the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and 
New York. 

He called attention to the fact that William Penn was first a settler in New Jersey 
before he founded Pennsylvania ; that the ancestors of the oldest of the families of 
Philadelphia, those bearing such names as Biddle, Lippincott, Clothier, and some others, 
entered upon Pennsylvania soil after crossing the Delaware River from New Jersey. 

He further pointed out that this same Delaware River was the great stream that 
gave outlet to the products of the industries of the two States for distribution over the 
whole world. 

Mr. Pennypacker, referring to history, called attention to the great number of im- 
portant battles of the Revolution that were fought on New Jersey and Pennsylvania 
ground. In this connection he declared that the Revolutionary War was not won by 
any unusual military skill, because the majority of the engagements with the British 
were defeats. 

He said that the cause was won by a spirit of resolution as much as revolution. 
This spirit, he declared, led men to suffer all kinds of privations, even death, for the 

82 



cause. Nowhere, he pointed out, was this spirit better shown by New Jersey men, as 
well as others, than on the spot upon which he and his audience were then standing. 

Governor Fielder, in accepting the monument from the Encampment Commission, 
spoke of the fitness of the occasion when the sons of New Jersey of to-day honored those 
who fought and died in the vicinity of Valley Forge ; the battles of Monmouth, Tren- 
ton and Princeton, as well as those of the Brandywine and Germantown. He lauded 
the men of New Jersey of the past and gave equal praise to the loyalty of their 
descendants. 

A party that was entertained as guests of General B. S. Fisher, who makes his 
home at Valley Forge, consisted of J. Starkey, Superintendent of Camden County In- 
sane Asylum ; Samuel Wood, for thirty years chairman of the Board of Managers of 
that institution, and Colonel Robert Jaggard, an officer with General Fisher in the 
Civil War, and now Steward of the Camden County Almshouse. 

Other who were seen about the Valley Forge Park during the day were Colonel 
William G. Schauffler, William Monroe, E. Frank Pine, Adjutant General Wilbur F. 
Sadler, Jr., Colonel William Libbey, of Governor Fielder's staff, and a member of the 
faculty of Princeton Universitv, and State Senator I. T. Nichols, of Cumberland county, 
N. J. ■ 

New Jersej- is nothing if not patriotic, and when John H. Fort, of Camden, one 
of whose ancestors was a Jersey soldier of the Revolution, after a visit to the Valley 
Forge camping ground in December, 191 1, called public attention to the fact that there 
was no monument to honor the Jersey Brigade, a movement was immediately started 
by Camden Lodge of Elks, No. 293, of which Lodge Mr. Fort is a Past Exalted Ruler, 
to have the State provide a suitable permanent memorial. Other Jersey Elks' Lodges 
co-operated, and no trouble was experienced in getting a $5,000 appropriation from the 
Legislature in the winter of 1912. Governor Woodrow Wilson signed the bill and 
put the matter in the hands of a Commission composed of John H. Fort, of Camden, 
president; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield; A. J. Demarest, of Hoboken ; General 
J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and David B. Mulford, of Bridgeton. 

The Valley Forge Commission granted a commanding site for the monument on 
the spot where the Jersey Brigade had their huts. The monument was designed b_v 
Scott M. Long. It is of Barre granite, 10 feet square at the base and 27 feet in height, 
surmounted by a bronze figure of a Continental soldier, in the uniform of the Jerse}' 
Brigade — figure and uniform showing evidence of the hardships encountered by the 
sturdy patriots who camped that winter at Valley Forge. 

The bronze figure is eight feet in height and weighs 3,000 pounds. The bronze 
tablet on the base of the monument bears the inscription already noted. 



CAMDEN "DAILY COURIER" 



FAVORITE SONS OF NEW JERSEY AT DEDICATION. 



Details of Militia of State Located at Camden at Valley Forge. 



MISS MARGARET WILSON WILL UNVEIL HANDSOME MONUMENT. 



Valley Forge, Pa., June 13. — Scores of New Jersey's favorite sons and details of 
infantry, artillery and Naval Reserve from Camden are gathered on this historic Revo- 

83 



lutionary Camping Ground this afternoon awaiting the signal to dedicate with fitting 
ceremony the handsome shaft which stands swathed in the stars and stripes, near the 
spot where the Jersey warriors were encamped during the trying winter of 1777-1778. 

At this hour all is in readiness for the ceremony. Belated parties are momentarily 
arriving on the field, and the Camden troops have already taken their stations. A more 
beautiful scene is hard to imagine than the one presented by the panorama of rolling 
country and green woodland. The presence of so many soldiers and civilians to do 
honor to the Revolutionary heroes, who trod these sun-kissed fields at a time when King 
Winter held his sway, cannot help but thrill one with patriotic fervor and bring forcibly 
to mind the privations and sufferings encountered by General Washington's brave little 
army in inadequate winter quarters. 

The arrival of Governor Fielder and his staff officers was possibly the most im- 
portant event of the day so far, but the arrival of Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of 
President Wilson, who later will unveil the monument, was also a most noteworthy 
event. 

Present on the camp ground is a battalion of four companies from the Third Regi- 
ment, National Guard ; the Regimental Band, and a division of men from the Camden 
Battalion, Naval Reserve, as well as a two-gun battery from Battery B, Field Artillery, 
of the same city. 

The military and civic societies and distinguished visitors are forming at the sta- 
tion for the march to the monument. Governor Fielder and his staff will form in this 
parade. The program of ceremonies late this afternoon is as follows: 

On arrival, the battery will fire a salute in honor of the Governor. The State 
officials. Commission of New Jersey and the Valley Forge Park Commission of Penn- 
sylvania, New Jersey State Senators and members of the House of Assembly and guests 
will occupy the grand stand opposite the monument. After the invocation by the Rev. 
Otis J. Glazebrook, of Elizabeth, John Henry Fort, the president of the New Jersey Com- 
mission, will present the monument to Governor Fielder, and then Miss Wilson will 
release the covering that veils it amid a salute of 13 guns from the battery. Governor 
Fielder will accept the monument and will present it. Ex-Governor Pennypacker prob- 
ably will accept it as the representative of Governor Tener, who announces that he will 
be unable to be present, and it will then be formally turned over to the Valley Forge 
Park Commission. The orator will be Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president of Rutgers 
College. 

The monument is of Barre granite. It is 27 feet high and surmounted b}^ a bronze 
figure of a Continental soldier, in the uniform of that period. It is heroic in size and 
was made by the John Williams Bronze Foundry, of New York. The cost of the monu- 
ment was $5,000. The monument was erected under the supervision of John Henry 
Fort, of Camden ; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield ; A. J. Demarest, of Hoboken ; 
General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and David P. Mulford, of Bridgeton, the 
Commission who were appointed by the then Governor Wilson under a legislative act 
which was introduced at the request of Camden Lodge of Elks. 

Among the civic societies and officials present are the Sons of the Revolution, sev- 
eral Chapters of the Daughters of the Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, 
State Historical Society, State Department Commander John W. Bodine, G. A. R., of 
New Jersey, and staff; Camden, Philadelphia, Norristown and Trenton Lodges of Elks; 
Patriotic Order Sons of America, and a delegation of Knights of Columbus from New 
Jersey. 

84 



NEWARK "EVENING NEWS" 



UNVEIL NEW JERSEY SHAFT AT VALLEY FORGE. 



Patriotic Throng at Dedication of Monument to State Brigade in the War of 

Independence. 



PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER OFFICIATES. 



Valle}'^ Forge, Pa., June i8. — Hosts of Jerseymen made pilgrimage to this historic 
spot to-day to witness the unveiling and dedication of a $5,000 monument, erected by 
the State of New Jersey to the memon,- of her gallant sons who participated In the 
Nation's struggle for freedom. 

Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of the President, will unveil the monument this 
afternoon after it has been formally turned over to Governor Fielder, of New Jersey, 
by John Henry Fort, president of the Valley Forge Revolutionary Commission, which 
was named by President Wilson while he was Governor of New Jersey. Governor 
Fielder will turn over the shaft to Governor John K. Tener, of this State, and the latter 
in turn will present it to the Valley Forge Park Commission. 

The reason why to-day was selected for the dedication is that this is the one hun- 
dred and thirty-fifth anniversary of the date when the New Jersey troops left Valley 
Forge. They marched out under orders from General Washington to head off the flee- 
ing British forces who had just evacuated Philadelphia. 

President Wilson will not be able to attend the ceremonies, but Secretary of War 
Lindley M. Garrison, of New Jersey, will be among the distinguished guests. The 
army of visitors who arrived during the day included prominent citizens and officials 
of the neighboring State. 

As a guard of honor. Adjutant General Wilbur F. Sadler, of New Jersey, assigned 
a battalion from the Third Regiment to attend the unveiling with the Third Regiment 
Band of forty pieces; a division of fifty men from the New Jersey Naval Reserve, and 
a two-gun battery from Battery B, of Camden. The artillery force arrived at the park 
early in the day to place in position the guns that will fire a salute, and the troops came 
later, leaving Camden at noon. 

When Governor Fielder and his staff arrived they were escorted in parade from 
the railroad station to the park. The militia headed the march, followed by lodges 
and delegations that were on hand. Upon the arrival at the monument a salute of thir- 
teen guns was fired in Governor Fielder's honor, and then the exercises began. 

The invocation was offered by Rev. Otis A. Glazebrook, of Elizabeth, N. J., and 
Mr. Fort delivered his address. Owing to illness General J. Madison Drake, also of 
Elizabeth, and a member of the Commission, was not able to attend the exercises. Gen- 
eral Drake was to have been the marshal of the day. 

The New Jersey monument marks the spot near where the infantry from that State 
in the Continental Army encamped during the bitter winter of 1777-1778, when so many 
of that band of patriots died from exposure, hunger and disease. The shaft is one of 
four erected in honor of the soldier dead, the others having been dedicated by the States 
of Pennsylvania, Maine and Massachusetts. 

A large statue of a soldier, in the Continental uniform, showing signs of service, 
surmounts the great shaft of Barre granite that stands 27 feet in height. The bronze 
figure is eight feet tall, and stands in the position of a picket on guard over the graves 
of the dead. The monument was designed and erected by John Williams, Inc., of New 
York. 

S5 



On the base of the shaft there is a bronze tablet, over which there is a facsimile 
of the first seal of New Jersey. The tablet bears the following inscription: 

"Erected by the State* of New Jersey upon the site occupied by the New Jersey 
Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army. Brigadier General William Maxwell. 
First Regiment, Colonel Mathias Ogden ; Second Regiment, Colonel Israel Shreve ; 
Third Regiment, Colonel Elias Dayton; Fourth Regiment, Colonel Ephraim Martin. 
December 19, 1777 — June 18, 1778." 

In opening his address, Mr. Fort told of how, eighteen months ago, he conceived 
the idea that the State should erect the monument to mark the spot where the Jersey 
Brigade of Infantry encamped 135 years ago. In part, Mr. Fort's speech follows: 

"It was not from lack of love of those men who fought, bled and died for that 
great cause that Valley Forge has lain so long unrestored and in the fallow, but because 
of its dark and sad history, written in the blood and tears of the ancestors of many of 
us — for a long time it was looked upon more as a charnel-house than a place to be re- 
membered in Revolutionary history. In 1777, after the battle of Brandywine, where 
Washington's Army was worsted and where the New Jersey Brigade opened the fight 
and maintained the heat of the battle almost a half day, the Continental Army re- 
treated toward Philadelphia with the English in full pursuit, and as winter was on, 
Washington sent General Duportail, his French chief of staif, to find some hidden fast- 
ness where water and wood could be found for his men, and serve not only as winter 
quarters, but as an inaccessible retreat. 

"The place selected was near the old Valley Forge, in Chester and Montgomery 
counties, Pennsylvania, at the confluence of Valley Creek and the Schuylkill. The 
region was covered with a pristine growth of trees, and its hills and valleys formed a 
natural fort ground, with sloping hills, to oppose an advancing foe, and precipitous 
bluffs for artillery defenses on rear and flanks. So that 8,000 men entrenched, and with 
redoubts and earthworks, would be equal to 20,000 outside. Unfortunately the Con- 
tinental Army arrived there so hastily that before log huts and other means of shelter 
could be thrown up, a blizzard that came sweeping over the hills and valleys — and the 
men almost shoeless and many scantily clad — almost decimated the army, and hundreds 
were placed out of service because of want of proper clothing to wear. 

"After the men had gotten log huts thrown up and earthworks and redoubts and 
rifle pits constructed, they were a little more comfortable, but pinching hunger was at 
the door, and ofttimes, without a mouthful of food, the men stood picket duty, or with 
a prayer for success went supperless to their rough straw beds. Smallpox and enteric 
diseases broke out, and many of the 8,000 men, mostly sons of the farmers of the old 
Colonies, died off like sheep. Of this number 3,500 died here and sleep in unknown, 
unmarked graves. On every hillside and in every valley little stone piles are or were 
for a hundred years the only markers to the bravery and sacrifice of these young heroes 
of that day. Of all this number — nearly one-half of that army — but one grave is known, 
that of Colonel Waterman. And the remains of those 3,500 patriots have long since 
moldered and gone back to mother earth, and these beautiful trees, this shrubbery and 
this beautiful grass we see to-day, was fed and enriched by their blood, their flesh and 
very bones. 

"Well, then, my friends, with a knowledge of the facts from tradition handed down 
in my own family from a great-grandfather, who, with a brother and seven cousins, 
was with Washington and the New Jersey Brigade from its first fight to the surrender 
of Cornwallis, you can easily conceive that when I was informed that while Pennsyl- 
vania, Maine and Massachusetts had markers here to indicate the site occupied by their 
troops of the twelve States then there represented, that it was no idle boast when I told 
Mr. Jenkins that I would get a monument for New Jersey." 

86 



Giving a history of how Valley Forge Park came to be laid out, Mr. Fort said 
that some few years ago some ladies, inspired by a desire to revive the history of Val- 
ley Forge, rented the old farm house near the station which was Washington's Head- 
quarters. 

"These ladies secured a lease upon this property and, meeting with lack of encour- 
agement, were finally joined by the Patriotic Sons of America, and finally the Legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania was induced to purchase a part of the old camp ground and a 
Commission formed that has, by other appropriations, acquired additional land and 
placed this park in its present splendid condition. 

"This is the fourth State monument to be erected, and it is hoped that every one 
of the original twelve States that had troops here will add to the monuments till it is 
placed rightfully of record as the Mecca of American independence. 

"The monument dedicated to-day was obtained b\' the assistance given by the 
Lodges of New Jersey of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The Valley 
Forge Park Commission will not allow the expenditure of over $5,000 for any monu- 
ment, or less, so you will understand that spirit and character are more represented than 
size, and yet the patriotism of both the Commission and contractor have given you a 
monument that I doubt could be duplicated for almost twice that amount. 

''As the president of the Commission, I now call upon Miss Margaret Wilson, 
daughter of the President of the United States, to unveil this shaft, and may it endure 
for centuries that our children's children and their grand and great-grandchildren may 
visit this spot to receive renewed enthusiasm and renewed love and devotion for those 
noble ancestors who suffered and many who died here, before our Nation was even 
born, that we might have a free country and government of our own." 



CAMDEN "POST-TELEGRAM" EDITORIAL 



A NOTABLE EVENT. 



In a manner creditable alike to the Commission in charge of the affair and to the 
State of New Jersey whose authority they exercised, the Valley Forge Monument was 
unveiled and dedicated yesterday. And in this connection it is appropriate to say that 
a special meed of praise is due John H. Fort, Esq., of this city, who initiated the Val- 
ley Forge memorial movement, brought it before the Legislature, was appointed presi- 
dent of the Commission and has devoted a great deal of time and energy to the suc- 
cessful completion of the work. Inspired solely by the spirit of patriotism — he had an- 
cestors in the Jersey Line — Mr. Fort has performed notable service to the State. The 
monument itself is the best evidence of the faithful and intelligent accomplishment of 
the patriotic duty assumed by the gentlemen of the Commission. 

If there is any cause for regret in connection with the dedication it is that New 
Jersey was not more largely represented by the higher classes of its citizenship. The 
Governor was there, but the Legislature, the judiciary, the bar, the clerg>', although re- 
ceiving individual invitations, were indifferent to the call for personal attendance to 
honor the memory of the patriots of 1777-1778. It remained for the "common people" 
to attend and by their patriotic interest in the event show that they appreciated the sac- 
rifices and the service rendered by those who gave their lives to the cause of liberty. 
Theirs is the satisfaction of knowing that the Revolution was essentially the struggle 
of the "common people" ; that while the property and educated classes were in the main 
supporters of monarchical institutions, the flame of liberty was lighted in the home of the 
humble, and the armies of the Revolution were recruited from the lower walks of life. 

87 



While love of liberty remains enshrined in the hearts of the "common people" the sac- 
rifices of the patriots of the Revolution will not have been made in vain; the American 
Republic shall not perish from the earth. 



CAMDEN "POST-TELEGRAM" EDITORIAL 



New Jersey has led the way which the original thirteen States, at least, should not 
fail to follow, by erecting a handsome memorial to the heroes of Jersey nativity in the 
Continental Army on the site of their camp at Valley Forge. While no battle was 
fought there, the camp at Valley Forge was the scene of one of the most critical events 
in American history. It seems paradoxical to speak of that winter of suffering and 
death as a period of recuperation for the Continental Army, but this, indeed, it was. 
Though nearly half the army brought into this camp perished from indescribable priva- 
tions, this impregnable position became a recruiting ground and a field bf discipline 
from which the force marched out with renewed courage and hope. Valley Forge was 
the scene of a turning point in our National destinies of scarcely less importance than 
the field of Gettysburg; and the soil which holds 3,500 heroes of the Revolution in un- 
marked graves should be no less sacred to us. Let every State remember its dead lying 
in this sanctified spot as New Jersey has done. 



PHILADELPHIA "PRESS" EDITORIAL 



VALLEY FORGE MEMORIALS. 



The graceful and significant monument dedicated at Valley Forge the past week 
to the memory of the New Jersey soldiers of the Continental Army who were at the 
encampment during the terrible winter of 1777-1778, ought to be the beginning of a 
series of memorials of a similar character erected by other States. 

The events of that fateful winter are pretty familiar even to the casual reader of 
American history. The months spent at Valley Forge were of the gravest importance in 
the struggle for independence, as important as some of the victories won in battles. In 
demonstration of heroism, fortitude and patriotic purpose the experience outranked most 
battles of the war. It was here that Washington, under the most discouraging and 
adverse conditions, kept the little army together when it had been in the greatest dan- 
ger of going to pieces — a result that would have proved fatal to the cause. No one 
else could have done this as Washington did ; possibly no one else could have done it 
at all. 

When the army retired to the valley and surrounding hills in Chester County in 
the harshness of winter it was without shelter of any kind. The troops were insuffi- 
ciently clad; most of them were ragged; many were without shoes; they were in want 
of blankets, which thej^ could not get. Congress had utterly failed to supply their sim- 
plest needs, and the quartermaster's department was almost hopelessly inefficient until 
a change was made later, while the Pennsylvania Assembly, which had failed in its 
duty to the men of the Pennsylvania Line, was passing resolutions demanding that the 
army be kept in the field and actively fighting instead of going into winter quarters. 

It was a dark hour both for the army and its commander, for Washington, with 
all his other troubles, was then resisting the intrigues of a cabal seeking to oust him 
from the command. But the men, with indomitable spirit, proceeded to take such care 



of themselves as they could. They constructed huts out of the trees of the forest, and 
they went after provisions wherever they were to be found. Privation and hunger 
cost many a life, but recruits were obtained, and the winter was partly spent under 
skilled officers in instruction and discipline. A great moral victory was achieved in 
those terrible months, for the country which could understand the heroic sacrifices and 
sufferings of Valley Forge could not itself falter. If the army had not been held to- 
gether their independence would have been indefinitely delayed. 

The men who bore these privations and who struggled so courageously and 
patriotically in the face of them deserve to be remembered by all succeeding genera- 
tions. The grounds occupied as the camp, in which there are many unmarked graves 
of heroes who perished there, have been marked, ornamented and improved under the 
authority and at the expense of the State and now constitute a beautiful park. All but 
two or three of the thirteen original States were represented among the troops at Val- 
ley Forge, and each must naturally desire to commemorate the services and sacrifices 
of its patriots. 

Nothing can do this more impressively than a suitable and imperishable monument 
such as New Jersey has erected and dedicated. No heroes in any age ever more de- 
served such tributes to their memorv. 



NEWARK "EVENING STAR' 



MISS WILSON WILL UNVEIL MEMORIAL OF NEW JERSEY AT VALLEY 

FORGE. 



Monument on Historic Field to be Dedicated on June i8. 



The Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission of New Jersey has about 
completed arrangements for the dedication and unveiling of the monument on the site 
occupied bj' the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army, at Valley Forge, 
Pennsylvania, 1777-1778, on Wednesday afternoon, June 18. 

Adjutant General Wilbur F. Sadler has designated as a guard of honor a battalion 
of four companies from the Third Regiment, a band of forty pieces, a division of fifty 
men from the Naval Reserve, and a two-gun battery from Battery B, of Camden, with 
a platoon of forty men for firing salutes. The troops will leave Camden at 12 o'clock 
on the i8th of June and proceed to the Reading Terminal, Philadelphia, where a special 
train will convey them to Valley Forge station. The battery will leave in the morn- 
ing to get there in time to place their guns and thirty-two horses in position. 

FIVE THOUSAND INVITATIONS. 

The Commission will send out 5,000 invitations to all parts of the State, and ex- 
pect representatives from the Senate and Assembly and all the State departments. Invi- 
tations generally will be extended to all fraternal and patriotic orders to attend in a 
body, or individually, as they desire. 

The Commission visited President Wilson and has received a letter from him ex- 
pressing his great regret that he cannot promise to attend, and stating that his daugh- 
ter. Miss Margaret Wilson, has accepted an invitation to be present and unveil the 
monument. 

The ceremonies of dedication and unveiling will be under the direction of the Com- 
mission, and are as follows: 

89 



The military and lodges and visitors will form in procession at the new Reading 
station, at Valley Forge, opposite Washington's Headquarters, and with the Governor 
of New Jerse}^, James F. Fielder, and his staff, proceed to the site of the monument. 
On arrival the battery will fire a salute of thirteen guns in honor of the Governor. 
The State officials. Commission of New Jersey and the Valley Forge Park Commission 
of Pennsylvania, State officials and Senators and Assemblymen and as many invited 
guests as possible will occupy the stand erected opposite the monument. 

A fine musical program has been arranged by Professor Joseph Bossle, leader 
of the Third Regiment Band. 

MISS WILSON WILL UNVEIL IT. 

After an invocation and music, John Henry Fort, president of the New Jersey 
Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commission, will present the monument to the 
Governor of New Jersey, and then Miss Wilson will release the covering that veils it 
and, amid a salute of thirteen guns from the battery, the monument will stand out in 
all its beauty. Governor Fielder will accept it from the New Jersey Corftmission and 
present it to the Governor of Pennsylvania, or his representative, who will then formally 
turn it over from the State of New Jersey to the Valley Forge Park Commission of 
Pennsylvania, which will thereafter take care of the monument and its maintenance. 

The monument is of Barre granite, and is a handsome piece of monumental work. 
It is 27 feet high, and surmounted by a bronze figure of a Continental soldier, in the 
uniform of that period, showing service, in the position of a picket on guard. It is 
heroic in size, and was made by the John Williams, Inc., Bronze Foundry, of New 
York, that casts most of the Government bronzes. 

Secretary of War Lindley M. Garrison, of New Jersey, has signified his intention 
of being present, if possible, as well as the Congressmen from New Jersey. 



PHILADELPHIA "PUBLIC LEDGER" 



ELEANOR WILSON UNVEILS MONUMENT. 



Draws Aside Flag Revealing New Jersey's Shaft at Valley Forge. 



The hills of Valley Forge echoed a salute of thirteen guns, yesterdaj- afternoon, 
when Miss Eleanor Wilson, daughter of the President, drew aside a drapery of the 
American flag, revealing a stately granite shaft on the site occupied by the New Jersey 
troops during the terrible winter of 1777-1778. The monument was erected by the State 
of New Jersey. 

As Miss Wilson, holding the National standard in her arms, stood before the im- 
posing memorial, a sustained cheer from more than 3,000 persons greeted her. A chorus 
of 25 children from St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Camden, sang "Hail New Jersey," 
accompanied by the music of a military band. Soldiers of the Third Regiment, Organ- 
ized Militia of New Jersey, and a division of the State Naval Reserve stood at atten- 
tion. The salute was fired by Battery B, of the New Jersey Artillery. 

Those taking part in the ceremonies were conveyed to Valley Forge on special trains, 
leaving this city at i P. M. They assembled at Washington's Headquarters, near the 
station, and marched to the monument. Thousands of visitors followed the automobiles. 
The procession included a battalion of soldiers of the Third New Jersey Infantry Regi- 
ment, the Naval Reserve, members of the Valley Forge Park Commission, State officials 
and civic organizations. 

90 
m. 



Governor James F. Fielder, of New Jersey, and ex-Governor Samuel W. Penny- 
packer, of Pennsylvania, accompanied Miss Wilson in an automobile. Mr. Pennypacker 
represented Governor Tener. 

The battery fired a salute in honor of the Governor. The Rev. J. W. Riddle, of 
Valley Forge, offered an invocation. John H. Fort, chairman of the Commission in 
charge of the erection of the monument, acted as master of ceremonies. He made the 
speech of presentation of the monument to Governor Fielder. 

In accepting the memorial for the State of New Jersey, Governor Fielder dwelt 
upon the important part taken by his State during the War of Independence, and called 
attention to the bravery and ability of General William Maxwell, who commanded the 
Jersey Brigade at Valley Forge. In accepting the monument for Pennsylvania and de- 
livering it to the Valley Forge Park Commission, Mr. Pennypacker called attention to 
the intimate relations existing between the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

William H. Sayen, president of the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsyl- 
vania, made the final speech of acceptance. 



PHILADELPHIA " RECORD " 



MILITIA MAKES GREAT HIT AT VALLEY FORGE. 



Infantrymen, Naval Reserve and Battery B Applauded Along March. 



HANDSOME SHAFT UNVEILED BY MISS ELEANOR WILSON. 



Valley Forge, Pa., June 19. — The citizens of this historic little hamlet will long 
remember the visit of the New Jerseymen, and the handsome shaft, topped with its 
heroic figure of a sentry on duty with the Continental Army, unveiled and dedicated 
yesterday bj' the sons and daughters of the Garden State, which will stand as a lasting 
memorial of granite and bronze to the heroism and fortitude displayed by that portion 
of General Washington's little army, recruited from across the broad reaches of the 
Delaware River. 

By far the largest delegation of Jerseymen who came here to do honor to the men 
who so bravely withstood the rigors of that long past winter camp of 1777-1778 was 
from the city of Camden. In the Camden party were many old soldiers and their wives, 
professional men and others. The city contributed almost entirely the military forces 
that went to make up the display of present-day soldiery at the gathering. These forces 
included a provisional regiment of four companies from the Third New Jersey Militia, 
a battalion of Naval Reserve and a battery of two guns from Battery B. 

CROWD GATHERS EARLY. 

Long before the time set for the unveiling and dedication of the costly memorial 
had arrived crowds of visitors began scaling the hill near the summit of which was 
located the camp of the Jersey Continental troops and the brow of which is now graced 
with the new shaft. The visitors from New Jersey had their party augmented by the 
arrival of many residents from along the main line and from nearby towns and vil- 
lages. That Valley Forge is proud of the new acquisition to the beauties of the famous 
camp ground was evidenced by the proprietory air displayed by the camp guides, to say 
nothing of the admiring glances directed towards the graceful memorial by the park 
guards, whose duties for a time yesterday were more or less usurped by the soldier 
boys from Camden. 

91 



BATTERY B ARRIVES. 

The boys of Battery B were the first troops to arrive. The work of detraining 
horses and guns required a comparatively short time, and the agility and order dis- 
played by the Camden artillerymen was freely commented upon by the villagers, who 
watched the gunners manipulate their field pieces with the precision of veteran war- 
riors. The gunners quickly formed their column, and long before the arrival of the 
civilian guests of honor had take up a position in the rear of the speaker's stand, await- 
ing the order to fire a salute of thirteen guns in honor of the original thirteen States 
of the Union. 

Next to arrive was a special train from Philadelphia conveying the four companies 
of the Third Regiment and the detachment of the Naval Reserve with their piece of 
ordnance. Hardly had these commands detrained when a second long special pulled 
into the handsome station the Reading Railroad has just completed, and Governor 
Fielder, surrounded with his staff of gold laced and immaculate officers, descended to 
the platform. New Jersey's Chief Executive was given a warm reception by the Penn- 
sylvanians and by the men of his own State already at Washington's old headquarters. 



CAMDEN "DAILY COURIER' 



NEW JERSEY DEDICATES VALLEY FORGE MONUMENT. 



Miss Eleanor Wilson^ President's Daughter, Unveils Handsome Memorial. 



STATE'S HEROES PRAISED. 



Governor Fielder, Militia and Large Crowd Throng Historic Camp Site. 



Third among the original thirteen States to so honor its martyr patriots. New Jer- 
sey, through Governor Fielder, the State Militia and almost 5,000 citizens, yesterday 
afternoon officially dedicated at Valley Forge a granite and bronze monument erected 
to the memory of the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, of the Continental Army. 
President Wilson, when Governor of the State,, appointed the Commission that had 
charge of the project, and his daughter, Miss Eleanor Wilson, came from Washington 
to the historic camp site yesterday to unveil New Jersey's tribute to the heroes of the 
dread winter of 1777-1778. Apart from Pennsylvania's setting aside of the camping 
ground as a State Reserve, New Jersey was preceded in honoring the Continental heroes 
only by Maine and Massachusetts, among the States whose soldier-dead sleep in the 
quiet hills of Valley Forge. 

Jersey Day at the site of Washington's winter quarters during that severest of 
crisis in the War for Independence was, in the words of John Henry Fort, president 
of the Monument Commission, "blest of blue sky and cooling breezes." Long though 
the program was, spectators were put to no discomfort. A special stand was built front- 
ing the shaft and statue. The overflow, and it was one of great numbers, found more 
than sufficient room beside the line of Jersey Militia and Naval Reserve that drew 
about the monument in hollow square formation. 

Miss Wilson, the guest of Mrs. James L. Pennypacker, wife of the Haddonfield 
member of the special commission, sat with her hostess and Miss Isabelle Hagner on the 
stand beside Governor James F. Fielder, ex-Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, of Penn- 
svlvania, who was representing Governor Tener, of Pennsylvania ; the members of the 

92 



Valley Forge and Monument Commissions and the delegates from various patriotic 
bodies interested in the honoring of the New Jerse}^ Continentals. 

MISS WILSON FIRST ON GROUND. 

Miss Wilson, upon her arrival in Philadelphia, was met by Mrs. Pennypacker. The 
President's daughter was accompanied only by Miss Isabelle Hagner, social secretary 
to Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and at one time social secretary to Mrs. Theodore Roose- 
velt. Both women were taken by Mrs. Pennypacker in an automobile through Fairmount 
Park and along the beautiful drives to Valley Forge, arriving there first of all who 
attended the special dedication ceremon3^ Governor Fielder's staff was present in the 
persons of Adjutant General Wilbur F. Sadler, Jr., Colonel William Libbej-, Colonel 
William G. Schauffler, Captain S. M. Dickinson and Captain Perkins. The Valley 
Forge Commission was represented by ex-Governor Pennypacker, J. P. Hale Jenkins, 
of Norristown ; W. A. Patton, of Radnor ; John T. Windrim, of Devon ; General T. E. 
Wiedersham, of St. David's, and Colonel W. H. Sayen, of Philadelphia, president of 
that body. General Ben Fisher, Robert Jaggard, J. Starkey, E. Frank Pine, William 
Monroe and Samuel Wood composed a special delegation from Camden county, and 
prominent among the attendants were Bishop McFaul, of the Catholic Diocese of New 
Jersey, and Congressman William J. Browning, of the First New Jersey district. Col- 
onel Samuel S. Hartranft was present as superintendent of Valley Forge Park. 

The unveiling exercises began immediately after the arrival of the two special 
trains that left the Reading Terminal at i o'clock and unloaded at Valley Forge three- 
quarters of an hour later. Assembling at Washington's Headquarters, a battalion of 
the Third Regiment, National Guard of New Jersey, under command of Major C. E. 
Shivers; a division of the Naval Reserve of New Jersey, the Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission and the guests for the day paraded along General Huntingdon avenue to the 
monument site. The Third Regiment Band, led by Joseph Bossle, headed the parade, 
and among the marchers were the delegations from the Sons of the Revolution, Daugh- 
ters of the Revolution, Patriotic Order Sons of America, Knights of Columbus and the 
Order of Elks. State Department Commander John W. Bodine, with his Camden staff, 
headed a detachment of Grand Army men. 

GUNS BOOM IN GOVERNOR FIELDER'S HONOR. 

A place of honor was reserved in the stand for the Commission which President 
Wilson appointed during his term as Governor of New Jersey. The members were 
John H. Fort, of Camden; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield; A. J. Demarest, of 
Hoboken; General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and David B. Mulford, of Bridge- 
ton. Mr. Fort, speaking for himself and colleagues, declared that the monument to 
the Jersey heroes of Valley Forge was authorized by former Governor Wilson at a cost 
of $5,000, and that the shaft and bronze figure cost the full amount of the appropria- 
tion, the expenses of the Commission having been borne by the individual members. 

Battery B, of the New Jersey Militia, opened the dedication program with the re- 
quired military salute to Governor Fielder. Rev. J. W. Riddle, of Valley Forge, a 
commentator on the Revolutionary history of the locality, stepped to the fore and 
offered invocation. Prayer was followed closely by the doxology, played by the band 
and sung by the audience, with the boys' choir of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, 
of Camden, leading. John Henry Fort then took command of the exercises, and with 
introductory remarks relative to the significance of the occasion, formally presented to 
Governor Fielder New Jersey's tribute to her sons at Valley Forge. 

"This," said Mr. Fort, "is an honor that I have long sought to pay to the men 
who starved and bled with Washington in the crisis of that winter spent among these 

93 



templed hills. New Jersey, through the Legislature and President Wilson, has made 
possible the immortalization of her soldiers' sacrifice, and to-day our President's daugh- 
ter has accompanied us here to prove his interest in this ceremony. It was only at the 
last moment that Mr. Wilson himself reluctantly withdrew consideration of being pres- 
ent here, but press of business compelled him to stay in Washington." 

TRIBUTE TO HEROIC JERSEYMEN. 

As the chairman of the Commission turned over to Governor Fielder and the State 
of New Jersey the granite and bronze memorial. Miss Wilson took her stand beside 
the flag-draped shaft and prepared to unveil it to the view of the audience. The flags 
were heavy and it took all the strength the President's daughter could command, but 
just as the mortars sent out the first thundering of the thirteen-gun salute to the orig- 
inal States the flags slipped over the tattered helmet of the bronze militiaman and 
dropped without further difficulty to the green below. The audience cheered, Miss 
Wilson bowed and accepted from the Monument Commission a great bouquet of Amer- 
ican Beauty roses, and then as of one voice the throng burst forth inta "Hail New 
Jersey," the song of the State Miss Wilson was honoring. 

Governor Fielder was brief in his remarks. He paid a tribute to Washington and 
the 8,000 soldiers who went with him to the winter camp at Valley Forge in Decem- 
ber of 1777, among them the heroic Jerseymen who were shortly to see their own State 
open to the ravages of the British forces. In Governor Fielder's opinion the fact that 
3,500 of the 8,000 Colonials who rallied with Washington and died during the en- 
campment is sufficient testimony to the hardships there must have been to endure. With 
words to this effect, the Chief Executive accepted for his State the new memorial. 

From Governor Fielder ex-Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker accepted the finished 
tribute to New Jersey's Revolutionary sacrifice, promising to care for it as a lasting 
memorial and thanking Governor Fielder in the name of the State of Pennsylvania for 
the interest the sister State has taken in the beautification of the Valley Forge reserve. 
As president of the Valley Forge Commission, William H. Sayen, with a word of com- 
mendation for New Jersey sentiment, declared the official acceptance of the monument 
by the State of Pennsylvania. 

MONUMENT IS HANDSOME 

Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president of Rutgers College at New Brunswick, made a 
notable review of the history of Valley Forge. He told of Jersey's pride in the heroes of 
the winter of 1777-1778, mentioning especially General William Maxwell, member of 
a noble Irish family and an early Revolutionary patriot, who was in command of the 
New Jersey Militiamen during the encampment of Washington's men. He was fol- 
lowed by Bishop McFaul, who pronounced the benediction, and, in concluding the ex- 
ercises, the cannon boomed once and "taps" was sounded across the peaceful hills. 

June 18 was chosen for the monument unveiling with a particular purpose in view. 
Not only was June the last month in which Washington remained at Valley Forge, but 
it was as well the 135th anniversary of the evacuation of Philadelphia by General Lord 
Howe, an occasion that gave rise to the valorous heroism on the part of New Jersey 
Colonials, who followed the British leader and harassed his troops. But primarily yes- 
terday was to New Jersey a day of hallowed memories, an hour in which a Common- 
wealth's loving tribute might be paid to the quota of its sons who sleep in unidentified 
graves upon the slopes of Valley Forge. 

The monument unveiled yesterday was designed by Scott M. Long, the figure at 
the top having been cast by Governmental contractors. The height is 27 feet, with an 
eight-foot figure, representing the New Jersey Continental, cast in bronze. The latter 

94' 



portrays the Valley Forge militiaman, in tattered uniform, facing with hardened visage 
the blasts of winter. At the base is inscribed: 

"Erected by the State of New Jersey upon the site occupied by the New Jersey 
Brigade, Infantrj' Line, Continental Army. Brigadier General William Maxwell. First 
Regiment, Colonel Mathias Ogden ; Second Regiment, Colonel Israel Shreve; Third 
Regiment, Colonel Elias Dayton; Fourth Regiment, Colonel Ephraim Martin. Decem- 
ber 19, 1777 — June 18, 1778." 



CAMDEN "ARGUS' 



NEW JERSEY'S TRIBUTE TO HER REVOLUTIONARY WAR HEROES. 



The beautiful granite monument erected on the historical grounds at Valley Forge 
to the memory of the New Jerse\' Brigade, Infantry Line, which, with General George 
Washington and other troops of the Continental Army, spent the memorable winter of 
1777-1778 in camp there, was unveiled by Miss Eleanor Wilson, daughter of President 
Woodrow Wilson, yesterday afternoon, while nearly 5,000 voices rang with the strains 
of "Hail New Jersey," the adopted hymn of that State, and thirteen cannons boomed a 
salute. 

The unveiling exercises began immediately after the arrival of the two special 
trains that left the Reading Terminal at i o'clock and unloaded at Valley Forge three- 
quarters of an hour later. Assembling at Washington's Headquarters, a battalion of 
the Third Regiment, National Guard of New Jersey, under command of Major C. E. 
Shivers; a division of the Naval Reserve of New Jersey, the Valley Forge Park Com- 
mission and the guests for the day paraded to the monument site. The Third Regi- 
ment Band, led by Joseph Bossle, headed the parade, and among the marchers were the 
delegations from the Sons of the Revolution, Daughters of the Revolution, P. O. S. of 
A., Knights of Columbus and the B. P. O. Elks. State Department Commander John 
W. Bodine, with his Camden staflF, headed a detachment of Grand Army men. 

A place of honor was reserved in the stand for the Commission, composed of John 
H. Fort, of Camden; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield; A. J. Demarest, of Ho- 
boken ; General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and David B. Mulford, of Bridgeton. 
Mr. Fort, speaking for himself and colleagues, declared that the monument to the Jer- 
sey heroes of Valley Forge was authorized by former Governor Wilson at a cost of 
$5,000, and that the shaft and bronze figure cost the full amount of the appropriation, 
the expenses of the Commission having been borne by the individual members. 

Battery B, of the New Jersey Militia, opened the dedication program with the re- 
quired military salute to Governor Fielder. Rev. J. W. Riddle, of Valley Forge, a 
commentator on the Revolutionary history of the locality, offered invocation. Prayer 
was followed closely by the doxology, played by the band and sang by the audience, 
with the boys' choir of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, of Camden, leading. John Henry 
Fort then took command of the exercises, and with introductory remarks relative to the 
significance of the occasion formally presented to Governor Fielder New Jersey's tribute 
to her sons at Valley Forge. 

"This," said Mr. Fort, "is an honor that I have long sought to pay to the men who 
starved and bled with Washington in the crisis of that winter spent among these 
templed hills. New Jersey, through the Legislature and President Wilson, has made 
possible the immortalization of her soldiers' sacrifice, and to-day our President's daugh- 
ter has accompanied us here to prove his interest in this ceremony. It was only at the 
last moment that Mr. Wilson himself reluctantly withdrew consideration of being pres- 
ent here, but press of business compelled him to stay in Washington." 

95 



Lawyer Fort, as chairman of the Commission, then turned over to Governor Fielder 
and the State of New Jersey the monument. Governor Fielder was brief in his re- 
marks accepting the same, and then former Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker received 
on behalf of the State of Pennsylvania the care of the monument. 

Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president of Rutgers College, at New Brunswick, made a 
notable review of the history of Valley Forge. 

The monument unveiled yesterday was designed by Scott M. Long, the figure at 
the top having been cast by Governmental contractors. The height is 27 feet, with an 
eight-foot figure, representing the New Jersey Continental, cast in bronze. The latter 
portrays the Valley Forge militiaman, in tattered uniform, facing with hardened visage 
the blasts of winter. At the base is inscribed: 

"Erected by the State of New Jersey upon the site occupied by the New Jersey 
Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army. Brigadier General William Maxwell. First 
Regiment, Colonel Mathias Ogden; Second Regiment, Colonel Israel Shreve; Third 
Regiment, Colonel Elias Dayton; Fourth Regiment, Colonel Ephraim Martin. Decem- 
ber 19, 1777 — June 18, 1778." 

John H. Fort, chairman of the Commission, was the instigator of the monument. 
He took the matter up with Camden Lodge of Elks, who appointed a committee with 
Mr. Fort as chairman, and they secured the co-operation of other Elks' Lodges in the 
State in having the Legislature make the necessary appropriation for the monument. 



PHILADELPHIA "NORTH AMERICAN" 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S DAUGHTER UNVEILS MONUMENT TO JERSEY 

PATRIOTS. 



She is Chief Figure in Valley Forge Ceremony. 



TROOPS IN PARADE. 



Five Thousand Persons Witness Exercises on Field Where Washington Camped. 



A memorial monument to New Jersey's patriots in the Revolutionary War was un- 
veiled at Valley Forge yesterday afternoon. Miss Eleanor Randolph Wilson, youngest 
daughter of the President, was the chief figure in the historic ceremonies. 

Situated in a central section of the ground, where the New Jersey contingent of 
Washington's Army spent the memorable winter of suffering in 1777 and 1778, the 
monument represents the State's first contribution to that sacred ground. 

It was there that 11,000 patriots battled against the rigors of one of the severest 
winters ever known, and where 3,500 of them lie buried. 

A covering of red, white and blue silk hid the monument from the 5,000 persons 
who had gathered to do honor to the noble dead of the Revolutionary period. Miss 
Wilson came to perform for the first time in a really serious capacity at a big State 
function. 

She pulled at the cords which bound the silk banners around the granite and bronze. 
They fluttered for a moment, then dropped to the ground, and New Jersey's offering to 
the memorial statues in historic Valley Forge became a fact. 

The 5,000 persons cheered heartily, while a battery at the rear of the reviewing 
stand fired a salute of thirteen guns in honor of the thirteen original States. 

A boys' choir from St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Camden, sang "Hail 

96 



New Jersey"; then the band of the Third New Jersey Regiment played "The Star 
Spangled Banner." Miss Wilson, in the meanwhile, ran back to her party, to become 
a spectator of the scene rather than the main picture in the spectacle. 

ANNIVERSARY OF EVACUATION. 

Yesterday was chosen for the ceremonies, because it was on June i8, 1778, that 
Washington's Army evacuated Valley Forge, after six months of the greatest hardships. 
It was also, on June 18, 1778, that Washington ordered the New Jersey troops to pro- 
ceed toward Philadelphia and harrass and repulse, if possible, the British forces which 
were leaving that city after a long occupancy. 

To John Henry Fort, a lawyer of Camden, is given the chief credit for the move- 
ment which finally led to the unveiling of the great monument to Jersey's heroes in the 
war. 

On a visit to Valley Forge, Mr. Fort observed that the ground occupied by the 
several thousand New Jersey patriots during the Revolution was unmarked. He in- 
augurated the plan to erect the monument; obtained the aid of President Wilson, then 
Governor of the State, and the Legislature finally indorsed the project and appropriated 
$5,000 to advance the work. 

The monument rests on a commanding site; it is of Barre granite, ten feet square 
at the base and twenty-seven feet high. It is surmounted by a bronze figure of a Con- 
tinental, in the uniform of the Jersey Brigade. The soldier is eight feet high and 
weighs 3,000 pounds. At the base a bronze tablet bears the following inscription: 

"Erected by the State of New Jersey upon the site occupied by the New Jersev 
Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army. Brigadier General William Maxwell. First 
Regiment, Colonel Mathias Ogden ; Second Regiment, Colonel Israel Shreve; Third 
Regiment, Colonel Elias Dayton; Fourth Regiment, Colonel Ephraim Martin. Decem- 
ber 19, 1777 — June 18, 1778." 

Two special trains of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway relieved the regular 
trains of the bulk of the traffic that was destined for Valley Forge. These trains left 
the Reading Terminal at i o'clock, and the second train carried the notables who were 
to participate in the ceremonies. 

Miss Wilson motored to the monument grounds as the guest of Mrs. James L. 
Pennypacker. The President's daughter was accompanied from Washington by Miss 
Isabelle Hagner, social secretary to the President's wife. 

MARCH TO MONUMENT. 

The elaborate preliminary program arranged by the Monument Commission was 
carried on without a single mishap. A great procession started at Washington's Head- 
quarters and marched to the monument. The Third Regiment Band led the parade, fol- 
lowed by a battalion of the Third Regiment, New Jersey National Guard ; a division 
of the Naval Reserve, the Valley Forge Park Commission, and the Valley Forge Revo- 
lutionary Encampment Commission. 

In the reviewing stand were Governor James F. Fielder, of New Jersey; Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Commissioner Pennypacker, who represented Governor Tener; Adjutant 
General William F. Sadler, of New Jersey; Bishop McFaul, of the Diocese of Trenton, 
and members of the Governor's staff. 

Miss Wilson and her attendants were seated at the right of the reviewing stand. 
Close by were Colonel William Libbey, of Princeton University; Colonel William G. 
Schauffler and Captain S. M. Dickinson, the latter a member of the Governor's staff. 

The ceremonies following the unveiling were quite simple. The presentation of the 
monument to the Governor of New Jersey was made by John Henry Fort. Governor 

97 



Fielder, in turn, accepted, and then presented it to Mr. Pennypacker, representing the 
Governor of Pennsylvania. 

The monument then vs'as formally delivered to the Valley Forge Park Commission 
of Pennsylvania; William H. Sayen, president of the Commission, accepting it on behalf 
of that body. 

The oration of the day was delivered by Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president of 
Rutgers College, of New Brunswick. The Rev. J. W. Riddle, a Protestant clergyman, 
of Valley Forge, pronounced the invocation, while the benediction was said by Bishop 
McFaul. 

The sounding of "taps" put an end to the ceremonies. The President's daughter, 
who had shared honors with the memorial statue up to this time, suddenly became the 
sole attraction. 

A thousand or more women gathered around Miss Wilson, and New Jersey's dis- 
tinguished daughter found herself submerged in violent admiration. 

She made her way to a motorcar, but not until she had shaken at least 500 out- 
stretched, eager feminine hands. 



PHILADELPHIA "EVENING TELEGRAPH" EDITORIAL 



VALLEY FORGE. 



To-day is memorable in the annals of this State for the dedication of the monu- 
ment in honor of the New Jersey Brigade that camped at Valley Forge in the darkest 
winter of the Revolution — the darkness that ushered in the dawn of the French alliance. 
It is enough to rouse the weakling and to move the callous merely to think of men near 
home, who yet endured the hardships of scanty clothing, bare feet, frozen ground and 
short rations, and through all this clung to a cause that seemed desperate. 

Brief excitement may lead a man to forget his peril, and battle lines maj- be so 
formed that flight is impossible. But the da}' long and night longer realities of hunger 
and cold no man forgets, and every soldier knew that our young government was a 
rope of sand, while the army itself seemed a nest of cabals. What was there for these 
men except the fortitude which uplifts the patriots with a consciousness similar to the 
saint's conviction — he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 

Estimates, parchments and muster rolls can tell us what money is in a bank ; what 
lands a testator leaves to an heir; how man}- soldiers a general turns over to his suc- 
cessor. But morale is not to be weighed or counted, bought or sold — it is without money 
and without price. The morale of Valley Forge was an asset in gaining Yorktown ; 
it served on the frontiers; it was a bulwark at New Orleans; it came down to Gettys- 
burg, and it found its way to the Philippines. 



PHILADELPHIA "PRESS 



MISS WILSON UNVEILS VALLEY FORGE SHAFT. 



Daughter of Presidekt Removes Coverixg from Moxument to New Jersey 

CONTINENT.^LS GOVERNOR FlELDER AND Ex-GOVERNOR PeNNYPACKER 

Participate. 



Valley Forge, Pa., June 18. — More beautiful weather could not have been hoped for 
than that which favored the exercises to-dav in connection with the unveiling of the 

9S 



monument erected here by New Jersey to commemorate the New Jersey Brigade, In- 
fantry Line, of the Continental Army. It was so delightful that Rev. J. W. Riddle, of 
Philadelphia, called it to mind in his invocation, and ex-Governor Pennypacker, 
representing the Governor of Pennsylvania, commented on it in receiving the tall granite 
shaft, on behalf of this State, from Governor James F. Fielder, of New Jersey. 

With military pomp and amid the blare of a band, a salute of thirteen guns and 
the cheers of 5,000 Jerseyites and Pennsylvanians, Miss Eleanor Wilson, representing 
her father, the President of the United States, pulled the cord which unloosed a gigantic 
American banner that had veiled the monument. Her sister, Miss Margaret Wilson, 
who had been chosen for the honor, was unable to be present. 

"With remarkable foresight," said John H. Fort, president of the Valley Forge 
Revolutionary Encampment Commission of New Jersey, "the President provided himself 
with several charming daughters in order to avoid disappointments on occasions similar 
to this." He introduced Miss Wilson, who charmed the throng with her unassuming, 
girlish manners and her ever-present bright smile. 

Six members of Governor Fielder's staff, in gorgeously gold trimmed uniforms; a 
provisional battalion of New Jersey infantry ; a division of the New Jersey Naval 
Reserve, and a battery lent martial color to the occasion. 

THE PRESENTATION. 

On behalf of the Commission, which carried out the plans for the erection of the 
monument, Mr. Fort presented it to Governor Fielder. He in turn presented it to ex- 
Governor Pennypacker, a member of the Valley Forge Park Commission, who accepted 
it in behalf of Pennsylvania, and then turned it over to William H. Sayen, president 
of the Park Commission, which has promised to take care of it perpetually. 

With the reserves and infantrymen standing with arms presented; with the Third 
New Jersey Regiment Band playing "Hail New Jersey," while the boys' choir of St. 
Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, Camden, sang the inspiring words; with the guns 
of Battery B, of Camden, booming out a salute in honor of the original thirteen States, 
and with the multitude cheering, the scene was inspiring when the President's daughter 
unveiled the beautiful shaft and the statue which surmounts it. 

PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER GETS FLAG. 

At the close of the exercises the great flag was presented to Miss Wilson as a 
memento. Mr. Fort, on behalf of the Commission, gave her a huge bouquet of Amer- 
ican Beauty roses. 

With the Governor's stand on one side, the infantry battalion, composed of Com- 
panies D and F, of Camden; Company I, of Woodbury, and Company E, of Mount 
Holly, under command of Major C. W. Shivers, and the Naval Reserve, under com- 
mand of Lieutenant R. G. Dix, formed a hollow square, in the center of which was 
the monument. 

MR. FORT'S ADDRESS. 

President Fort, of the New Jersey Commission, said the $5,000 appropriated by the 
Legislature had been expended for the monument, and that the Commissioners had 
borne their own expenses. "The Park Commission will not let you spend more nor 
less than $5,000 for such a monument," he said, "but when they saw this beautiful shaft, 
weighing more than 100,000 pounds, I do not doubt that they had suspicions that we 
had used more money." 

Governor Fielder said: "In giving this monument into the keeping of the great 
State of Pennsylvania, we know we are placing it in the care of a friend." 

99 



EX-GOVERNOR PENNYPACKER ACCEPTS MEMORIAL. 

"The relations of New Jersey and Pennsylvania," said ex-Governor Pennypacker, 
"always have been close and intimate. You hear much of New England, but there 
never was a New England. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York were 
the first Colonies to unite under one government. 

"William Penn was a proprietor in New Jersey before he founded this Common- 
wealth. Across the Delaware came the Lippincotts, the Biddies and the Clothiers, who 
became ornaments and leaders in the City of Brotherly Love. New Jersey and Penn- 
sylvania were settled by the same people. 

"In accepting this monument I may promise you it will be cherished and cared 
for in all the days to come." 

President Sayen, of the Park Commission, said the promise made by the ex-Gover- 
nor would be carried out. President W. H. S. Demarest, of Rutgers College, made an 
historical address. 

After the ceremonies Miss Wilson, Miss Hagner, Mrs. Pennypacker- and several 
members of the New Jersey Commission were taken to Philadelphia in an automobile. 
Miss Wilson wore a waist of white lace, a white skirt of terry cloth, with a deep lace 
insertion near the bottom, and a blue hat with black brim, trimmed with old roses. 

The benediction, which closed the ceremony, was delivered by Bishop McFaul. 

The monument was designed by Scott M. Long. It is of Barre granite, ten feet 
square at the base and twenty-seven feet in height, surmounted by a bronze figure of a 
Continental soldier, in the uniform of the Jersey Brigade. The bronze figure is eight 
feet in height, and weighs 3,000 pounds. A bronze tablet on the base of the monu- 
ment bears this inscription: 

"Erected by the State of New Jersey upon the site occupied by the New Jersey 
Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army. Brigadier General William Maxwell. First 
Regiment, Colonel Mathias Ogden; Second Regiment, Colonel Israel Shreve; Third 
Regiment, Colonel Elias Dayton; Fourth Regiment, Colonel Ephraim Martin. Decem- 
ber 19, 1777 — June 18, 1778." 



PHILADELPHIA "INQUIRER" 



MISS WILSON IS SHAFT UNVEILER AT VALLEY FORGE. 



President's Daughter Aids in Honoring New Jersey Heroes. 



PROMINENT MEN VISIT MONUMENT ERECTED WHERE CONTINENTALS 

SUFFERED. 



Valley Forge, Pa., June 18. — While nearly 5,000 voices rang with the strains of 
"Hail New Jersey," the adopted hymn of that State, and thirteen cannons boomed a 
salute. Miss Eleanor Wilson, daughter of President Woodrow Wilson, to-day unveiled 
the monument erected to the memory of the New Jersey Brigade, Infantry Line, which, 
with General George Washington and other troops of the Continental Army, spent the 
memorable days of the winter of 1777-1778 in camp here. 

It was an auspicious day for the sons and daughters of New Jersey, many of whose 
ancestors had experienced the rigors of that camp which gained for those participating 
as great and enduring fame as anv decisive battle of the Revolutionary War. 

100 



In fact, the thought that perhaps some of the ancestors of those present, removed 
by many generations, occupied unknown and unmarked graves within view of the scene 
of the unveiling exercises, was expressed by several of the speakers. Again, it was the 
one hundred and thirty-fifth anniversary of the evacuation of Philadelphia by the 
British. 

FIRST TO HONOR CONTINENTALS. 

New Jersey is practically the first State to erect a majestic monument to the memory 
of those Continental soldiers from that present Commonwealth who either withstood 
the privations of the historic camp of Valley Forge or died and were buried here by 
their half-starved comrades. The granite shaft, surmounted by a bronze figure of a 
Continental soldier, of heroic size, is supposed to stand in the very centre of the section 
occupied by the New Jersey Brigade during the winter encampment. 

President Wilson was to have been present and unveil the monument, but he found 
it impossible to attend and sent to the Commission in charge a message in which he 
expressed his reluctance at having to forego the honor. He sent, however, Miss Eleanor, 
his daughter, who, after she tugged at the cord that caused an immense American flag 
to unfold itself from about the shaft and statue, bringing the monument to view, said: 

"This is one of the happiest moments of my life. I shall always cherish the 
memory of this day, when to me was given the singular honor of unveiling a monu- 
ment to the loyalty and heroism of those brave men from my State who suffered here 
that a Nation might be born. It is a fitting tribute, and I glory in the fact that I have 
been allowed so important a part in the exercises. The happiness of this day will 
always be associated with that of another day — the day I learned that father had been 
chosen the President of this great Republic." 

The unveiling of the monument was attended with military pomp. As Miss Wilson 
pulled the cord that brought the tribute of a State before the admiring eyes of the 
5,000 persons, a battalion of the Third Regiment, National Guard of New Jersey, formed 
a square about the shaft and figure and stood at attention. 

MARCH TO THE MONUMENT. 

The singing of the various patriotic songs was led by the boys' choir connected 
with St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Camden. The music was furnished by 
the Third Regiment Band of New Jersey, Joseph Bossle, conductor. Those who par- 
ticipated in the unveiling ceremonies assembled at the historic building in which Wash- 
ington made his headquarters and marched to the monument. The Governor's salute 
was fired upon that oflicial's arrival at the scene of the dedication by Battery B, of 
the National Guard of New Jersey, as it did the salute of thirteen guns during the 
unveiling exercises. 

It was Governor James F. Fielder, of New Jersey, who accepted the monument 
from the special commission that succeeded in raising the funds to provide it. The 
Governor was attended by his staff. With Miss Wilson was Miss Isabelle Hagner, 
of Washington, social secretary" at the White House, and Mr. and Mrs. James 
L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield, New Jersey. A. J. Demarest was also in Miss Wil- 
son's part3^ Others among the prominent guests were former Governor Samuel W. 
Pennypacker, of Pennsylvania, who received the custody of the monument in the name 
of Governor Tener and the State of Pennsylvania from Governor Fielder, and in turn 
presented it to the Valley Forge Park Commission. 

President William H. Sayen, of the Commission, accepted the custody of the monu- 
ment. Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president of Rutgers College, was the principal orator. 
John Henry Fort, president of the Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Commis- 

'101 



sion, presided at the exercises. The invocation was made by Rev. J. W. Riddle, author 
of "The Story of Valley Forge." Bishop McFaul, of the Catholic Archdiocese of Tren- 
ton, pronounced the benediction. There were in addition to these a number of New 
Jersey's most prominent officials and those in the political limelight. 

A party that was entertained as guests of General B. S. Fisher, who makes his 
home here at Valley Forge, consisted of J. Starkey, Superintendent of the Camden 
County Insane Asylum ; Samuel Wood, for thirty years chairman of the Board of Man- 
agers of that institution, and Colonel Robert Jaggard, an officer with General Fisher 
in the Civil War, aud now Steward of the Camden County Almshouse. 

Others who were seen about the Valley Forge Park during the day were Colonel 
William G. Schauffler, William Monroe, E. Frank Pine, Adjutant General Wilbur F. 
Sadler, Jr., Colonel William Libbey, of Governor Fielder's staff and a member of the 
faculty of Princeton University, and State Senator I. T. Nichols, of Cumberland county, 
New Jersey. 

All of the speakers dwelt particularly upon the great part in the Revolutionary 
War played by the sons of New Jersey. Former Governor Pennyp acker, ^ who was in- 
troduced by Chairman Fort as the man of a patriotic family of Pennsylvania who dis- 
covered in a foreign country the plans of the original encampment at Valley Forge, 
and after which the present park was laid out, declared that there was a special bond 
of sympathy between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

He referred to the fact that before there was any real New England there was 
a sort of federation between the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New 
York. 

He called attention to the fact that William Penn was first a settler in New Jersey 
before he founded Pennsylvania ; that the ancestors of the oldest of the families of 
Philadelphia, those bearing such names as Biddle, Lippincott, Clothier, and some others, 
entered upon Pennsylvania soil after crossing the Delaware River from New Jersey. 

He further pointed out that this same Delaware River was the great stream that 
gave outlet to the products of the industries of the two States for distribution over the 
whole world. 

Mr. Pennypacker, referring to history, called attention to the great number of im- 
portant battles of the Revolution that were fought on New Jersey and Pennsjlvania 
ground. In this connection he declared that the Revolutionary War was not won by 
any unusual skill, because the majority of the engagements with the British were de- 
feats. He said that the cause was won by a spirit of resolution as much as revolution. 
This spirit, he declared, led men to suffer all kinds of privations, even death, for the 
cause. Nowhere, he pointed out, was this spirit better shown by New Jersey men, as 
well as others, than on the spot upon which he and his audience were then standing. 

Governor Fielder, in accepting the monument from the Encampment Commission, 
spoke of the fitness of the occasion, when the sons of New Jersey of to-day honored 
those who fought and died in the vicinity of Valley Forge; the battles of Monmouth, 
Trenton and Princeton, as well as those of the Brandywine and Germantown. He 
lauded the men of New Jersey of the past and gave equal praise to the loyaltj- of their 
descendants. 

The monument bears the following inscription: 

"Erected by the State of New Jersey upon the site occupied by the New Jersey 
Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army. Brigadier General William Maxwell. First 
Regiment, Colonel Mathias Ogden ; Second Regiment, Colonel Israel Shreve; Third 
Regiment, Colonel Elias Dayton; Fourth Regiment, Colonel Ephraim Martin. Decem- 
ber 19, 1777 — June 18, 1778." 

102 



The original appropriation by the State Legislature of New Jersey was $5,000. A 
subsequent appropriation of $1,800 was made for the dedicatory services. 



PHILADELPHIA "EVENING TELEGRAPH' 



MEMORIAL SHAFT AT VALLEY FORGE UNVEILED TO-DAY. 



New Jersey, in Bronze, Perpetuates Memory of Men Who Fought With 

Washington. 



PROGRAM IS IMPRESSIVE. 



For patriotic Jerseymen to-day all roads led to Valley Forge. The occasion is 
the unveiling of a memorial shaft to commemorate the heroism and fortitude of the 
Jersey patriots who camped and starved and bled with General Washington on the 
bleak hills of Valley Forge in the drear winter of 1777-1778. The State of New Jersey 
will be represented at the unveiling and dedication ceremony by the Governor, details 
from its National Guard, representatives of the Legislature, patriotic societies and thou- 
sands of plain Jersey folk. 

New Jersey is nothing if not patriotic, and when Lawyer John H. Fort, of Cam- 
den, one of whose ancestors was a Jersey soldier of the Revolution, after a visit to 
the Valley Forge Camping Grounds, in December, 191 1, called public attention to the 
fact that there was no monument there to honor the Jersey Brigade, a movement was 
immediately started by Camden Lodge of Elks, No. 293, of which Lodge Mr. Fort is 
Past Exalted Ruler, to have the State provide a suitable permanent memorial. Other 
Jersey Elks' Lodges co-operated and no trouble was experienced in getting a $5,000 
appropriation from the Legislature in the winter of 1912. Governor Woodrow Wilson 
signed the bill and put the matter in the hands of a Commission composed of John H. 
Fort, of Camden, president; James L. Pennypacker, of Haddonfield; A. J. Demarest, 
of Hoboken; General J. Madison Drake, of Elizabeth, and David P. Mulford, of 
Bridgeton. 

The Valley Forge Commission granted a commanding site for the monument 
on the spot where the Jersey Brigade had their huts. The monument was designed by 
Scott M. Long. It is of Barre granite, 10 feet square at the base and 27 feet in height, 
surmounted by a bronze figure of a Continental soldier, in the uniform of the Jersey 
Brigade — figure and uniform showing evidence of the hardships encountered by the 
sturdy patriots who camped that winter at Valley Forge. 

MONUMENT INSCRIPTION. 

The bronze figure is eight feet in height and weighs 3,000 pounds. A bronze tablet 
on the base of the monument bears this inscription: 

"Erected by the State of New Jersey upon the site occupied by the New Jersey 
Brigade, Infantry Line, Continental Army. Brigadier General William Maxwell. First 
Regiment, Colonel Mathias Ogden; Second Regiment, Colonel Israel Shreve; Third 
Regiment, Colonel Elias Dayton; Fourth Regiment, Colonel Ephraim Martin. Decem- 
ber 19, 1777 — June i8, 1778." 

The original appropriation of $5,000 was expended entirely on the monument, and 
the Legislature last winter granted an additional appropriation of $1,800 to defray the 
expenses of the Commission and of the dedication ceremony. 

103 



Extensive preparations have been made for to-day's event. Five thousand invita- 
tions were sent out, bidding welcome to the unveiling the Sons of the Revolution, Sons 
of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution and other Colonial 
and patriotic societies; to the Legislature, State officials, the legal and medical pro- 
fessions, the clergy of the State and citizens in general. 

President Wilson reluctantly declined an invitation to deliver an address, as public 
business required his presence at Washington, but sent as his representative his 
daughter, Miss Margaret Wilson, who will unveil the monument. Governor James F. 
Fielder, as Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, detailed a battalion of the 
Third Regiment, N. G. N. J.; composed of Companies E, of Mount Holly; D and F, 
of Camden, and I, of Woodbury, under command of Major C. E. Shivers, and accom- 
panied by the regimental band; a division of the Naval Reserve, of Camden, and a 
section of Battery B, Field Artillery, of Camden, to fire salutes. The Governor will be 
attended by his staff in uniform. 

A special train will be run from the Reading Terminal by the Reading Railroad, 
at I P. M., to take the Jersey folk to Valley Forge. Automobiles will -transport the 
officials and other distinguished guests from the Valley Forge station to the monument. 
The dedicatory ceremonies will begin at 2 P. M. The program follows: 

FORMATION OF PARADE. 

Assembling at Washington's Headquarters and march to monument: Third Regi- 
ment Band ; battalion of Third Regiment, National Guard, N. J. ; division. Naval Re- 
serve, N. J. ; Valley Forge Park Commission ; Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment 
Commission ; Governors James F. Fielder and John K. Tener, orators and guests ; 
United States Senators and Congressmen ; New Jersey Senators and Assemblymen ; 
State officials ; civic organizations and citizens. 

DEDICATION CEREMONIES. 

Salute to the Governor by Battery B, N. G. of N. J. ; invocation. Rev. Otis A. 
Glazebrook, D. D., of Elizabeth, N. J. ; music by Third Regiment Band, Joseph Bossle, 
Sr., chief musician; doxology by band and audience; presentation of monument to the 
Governor of New Jersey by John Henry Fort, president of the Valley Forge Revolu- 
tionary Encampment Commission ; unveiling of monument by Miss Margaret Wilson ; 
salute to original States, thirteen guns; music, "Hail New Jersey," Dr. Schaaf ; accept- 
ance of monument by the Governor of New Jersey and presentation to the Governor 
of Pennsylvania ; acceptance of the monument by the Governor of Pennsylvania and 
formal delivery to the Valley Forge Park Commission ; acceptance of monument by Wil- 
liam H. Sayen, president of the Valley Forge Park Commission of Pennsylvania ; music, 
"Spirit of '76"; oration. Dr. W. H. S. Demarest, president of Rutgers College; music, 
"Songs of the Nation" ; voluntary, by band, "A Tribute to Friend and Foe" ; benedic- 
tion. Conclusion — Farewell salute of one gun; "Star Spangled Banner"; "taps." 

The official program is printed with "Jersey Blue" ink on buff paper — the com- 
bination representing the colors of the uniform worn by the Jersey troops in the Army 
of the Revolution. The program is embellished with pictures of the monument, the 
Monument Commission, Governor Fielder and Miss Wilson. 



PHILADELPHIA " RECORD " 



Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of the President, will to-day be given the honor 
of unveiling the monument erected by the State of New Jersey to its Revolutionary 
heroes who suffered for liberty on the historic Valley Forge field. A large number of 

104 



New Jersey people will attend the ceremony, and Governor Fielder and his staff will 
be noted figures. A battalion of the Third Regiment, National Guard, from Camden, 
and the Regimental Band, will also form part of the assemblage. 

On behalf of the New Jersey Commission, John Henry Fort, of Camden, the chair- 
man, will present the handsome shaft to Governor Fielder, and by him for the State 
to the Valley Forge Park Commission. The orator of the day will be Dr. W. H. S. 
Demarest, president of Rutgers College, of New Brunswick. Music will be interspersed 
in the program by the Regimental Band and guns will fire salutes. The exercises will 
begin at 2 o'clock, and most of the New Jersey people will go to the park on the train 
leaving the Reading Terminal at i o'clock. 



PHILADELPHIA "PRESS' 



DANIEL MORGAN, OF NEW JERSEY. 



RlFLE.VI.\N OF THE REVOLUTION. 




Daniel Morgan, Colonel of the famous Riflemen of the Revolutionary War. 
Was born In New Jersey and accompanied Maxwell's Brigade. 

Daniel Morgan received his familiar nickname of the "Rifleman of the Revolution" 
from the fact of his great skill in handling that weapon, and the fearless way in which 
he conducted himself during the French and Indian Wars and the Revolution. 

Morgan was born in New Jersey, and very little is known of his early life. The 
first that history begins to recognize him is as a teamster in Braddock's army in 1754. 
In the rout at the Monongahela he did good service in bringing away the wounded, 
and at about this time he became acquainted with Washington. 

There was more or less of the fighter in Morgan from his youth, for it is noted 
that while he was yet in his teens he knocked down a British lieutenant who had struck 
him with the flat of his sword, for which act he was punished with five hundred 
lashes. 

It is noted that when the Court ordered that Morgan was to be given these lashes, 
he counted the strokes as they fell, and in telling the story in later days always said 
he had received only 499, and added : "If I ever meet the King I'll tell him that he 
is still indebted to me one lash." 

Between the ages of twenty and thirty Morgan led a rather reckless life. He drank 
too much, gambled to excess and alwa3's had a fight in prospect. It is said that the 
village near which he lived, named Berrytown, gradually became known as Battletown, 

' 105 



by reason of the quarrels and fights always going on there, usually headed by "Dan" 
Morgan. 

With all this reckless living Morgan had some excellent qualities. He did not 
know the name of fear ; he had a great deal of prudence, and he worked steadily, made 
money, and invested it in land. 

Washington always had a great deal of trouble with Morgan's riflemen. They 
had enlisted to fight, and were not inclined to settle down under camp discipline, to 
drill or to be under any military orders. It was good news when they were ordered 
to join Arnold's army and proceed against Quebec. With a force composed almost 
entirely of militia, Morgan won the brilliant victory of Cowpens, but became so broken 
in health that he was obliged to go home for rest. From the standpoint of brilliant 
strategy and fearless bravery the battle of Cowpens ranks as perhaps the most important 
in all the Revolution, for, up to that time, the British had met with almost unbroken 
success in the South. The hero who had won this victory against England's most 
aggressive general had once been a poor teamster who was flogged for thrashing a 
tyrannical British officer. 

Cromwell was stunned at first by the disaster that had befallen Tarleton. Only 
a short time before, the left wing of his army, commanded by Ferguson, had been cap- 
tured by the over-the-Alleghenies men under Servier, Shelby and others at King's 
Mountain. Now came the crushing blow to Tarleton. But for the reinforcements that 
had arrived at Charleston under General Leslie, Lord Cornwallis would have been in 
a desperate situation. In a zealous attempt to retrieve himself he determined to burn 
all his baggage, transform his array into light troops, prevent Morgan from crossing 
the Catawba, and, that accomplished and a merging of Morgan's and Greene's armies 
prevented, crush first one and then the other. 

But Morgan, divining the plan of Cornwallis, was too quick for his lordship. 
With his prisoners he was making a forced march for the Catawba, before Cornwallis 
had put flame to his baggage. With all of Morgan's exertions he narrowly escaped. 
When he crossed the Catawba the vanguard of the British was in sight. That night 
a heavy rain fell, and the next day the river was in flood. Morgan was safe from 
pursuit. 

With his prisoners sent north to Virginia and the arms and stores captured at 
Cowpens turned over to Greene, he was ready once more for action. But there was 
little more action for him. Stricken with rheumatism he had to give up his command 
a few weeks later. Some of his troops were turned over to Colonel Otho Williams, 
and a portion to Light Horse Harry Lee and formed the rearguard of Greene's army 
in the retreat to the Dan and the advance guard in the campaign that followed, and 
which cleared the Carolinas of the British. 

No battle of the Revolution was more clear cut and sweeping than that of Cow- 
pens. With a smaller force and with militia mainly, Morgan defeated the flower of 
the Southern army of the British. Surely glory enough for the teamster who got 499 
lashes on his back at the order of an angry British officer. 

From his Southern triumph Morgan went back to his farm near Battletown. This 
farm he called "Saratoga," in honor of the field where he believed he did his greatest 
military work. At the time of the whiskey insurrection he was placed at the head of 
the Virginia troops. He went to Congress for one term and that cured him of politics. 
The farm and his beloved Battletown satisfied his ambition thereafter. 

When, as age crept on him, his health failed, he had to give up the farm and 
went to live in Winchester. There he died in his sixty-sixth year. It is said of him 
that no man loved life more and yet risked his life more willingly. Often he declared 
he would gladly live as a galley slave in this world rather than take a chance in the 
unknown. 

106 



It Is said that when Burgoyne was introduced to Morgan after the surrender at 
Saratoga, he seized him by the hand and exclaimed, "My dear sir, you command the 
finest regiment in the world." 

Morgan was considerably over six feet in height, and weighed more than two hun- 
dred pounds. His strength and endurance were remarkable, and in beauty of feature 
and expression he was equalled by few men of his time. His manners were quiet and 
refined, his bravery was noble, and his temper sweet, though his wrath was easily 
aroused by the sight of injustice. He was noted for truthfulness and candor, and 
throughout his life his conduct was regulated by the most rigid code of honor. He was 
also a devout Christian. 




107 



